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Raven hadn't always known she was a witch. In fact, she realized it on the same day she met her best friend, while they were both in their sophomore year of college. That was the day that she caught hipster dick-shit-for-brains fucking a beautiful blonde in his apartment. The same day that the aforementioned hipster dick found himself in the hospital after a mysterious accident involving a flying lamp. Needless to say, everyone was more than a little bit shocked and absolutely no one believed the crazy guy in Urgent Care telling people his girlfriend made a lamp fly across the room to attack him.
Raven has always known that she loved Christmas.
She also happens to love fucking with her friends.
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Bellamy Blake woke up out of a peaceful sleep because he was cold. Freezing actually. He was convinced his extremities would fall off if they hadn't already. As he slowly and groggily opened his eyes he realized that his bed was now white. This was definitely not normal. He could've sworn that he changed the bedding just last week and it was definitely dark green. Except once he put on his glasses he observed that it wasn't his bed at all. It was a fucking pile of snow. On his bed. Bellamy took a moment to let it sink in before grabbing his pillow and promptly yelling every possible expletive into it until his cat started to yowl.
He grunted,"Oh you think you're having a bad morning?" His cat Persephone just meowed and sashayed out of the room and he was left to dig his way out of the growing pile of snow now in his bedroom. Only once he shuffled into the small kitchen and put on the coffee did he realize that snow was falling onto the countertop around him. He looked up to find a miniature cloud, complete with wind and snowflakes floating mockingly above his head. He groaned and immediately dialed Raven's number.
"What the fuck did you do?" he demanded.
Raven cackled, "You were the one that said White Christmas was the best Christmas song ever written Blake. I just gave you what you wanted like the loving and generous friend that I am."
"I don't know why we're friends, you're actually the devil. Seriously, make it stop."
Raven was definitely smiling now. "Ehh I don't think so Blake. I'm feeling festive and snow just gets me in the mood y'know? Also, it doesn't really work like that."
Bellamy let out a long groan. "Fine. Then how does it work, Ms. Witchy-wonderland?”
"Oh I am so glad that you asked my inferior friend. Catchy name by the way. All you have to do is warm up from the inside out and the cloud disappears. Poof."
"Uh huh, and how do you suggest I do that?" Bellamy asked, exasperated. He was now stirring cream into his coffee and gathering snowflakes on his broad shoulders. He just knew that his hair was soaked and probably freezing into tiny curly icicles.
He could practically hear Raven's Cheshire grin through the phone as she said, "Well I was thinking you could get cozy with a certain someone who you refuse to admit that you're in love with."
The tips of his ears and the back of his neck turned bright red and it was unfortunately not because he was cold. He was attempting to convince himself that it was actually caused by rage. "ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT REYES. Not happening. She's the biggest pain in the ass I have ever met and that's saying a lot considering I worked as a waiter for a good part of my life."
Raven had the nerve to burst out laughing. Fucking typical. "And yet you knew exactly who I was talking about. Plus, you're a bigger pain in the ass than Clarke is. She does have a great one by the way. Ass that is. Boobs too. But we all know that you've noticed those, don't we? Ooh! Before I go, don’t forget Clarke’s annual Christmas party tonight. WEAR YOUR SWEATER.”
"I want the record to show that I'm denying everything you're saying and I hate you. You know I hate those parties! Everything is too formal and Clarke is always more annoying than usual.”
“Are you sure that doesn’t have anything to do with how hot she always looks? I know that tends to distract you during your famous debates.”
“I’m hanging up now." Bellamy huffed. Ridiculous. He was NOT attracted to Clarke. She had been introduced to their group in college by Raven and from the moment they laid eyes on each other, the only things out of their mouths were insults and mockery. She was pretentious, and obnoxious, and arrogant, and stubborn, and completely gorgeous when she got angry and her hair got tousled and looked like she just got fucked out of her... NO. This was not happening. He would not let this happen. Under no circumstances could Raven win. He slammed his mug down in the sink and stalked to his igloo of a room trying to get Clarke out of his head and brushing the snow off of his shoulders as he went.
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Clarke woke up out of a peaceful sleep to the comforting scent of pine and cinnamon. And was that..? Yes, the crackling of the fireplace. Suddenly wide awake, she remembered that she hadn't even bought a Christmas tree yet and definitely hadn't had time to make anything that smelled that good. The fire was a whole separate issue. She wasn't even sure that the gas for her fireplace was hooked up, not to mention that she was paranoid as hell and would never EVER go to sleep with a fire going. What the fuck. She sprang out of bed and grabbed the bat that she kept in the corner. Upon a thorough search of her house, however, there was no one else there. She was starting to worry about her sanity when a cup of hot cocoa materialized in her hand. She shrieked and nearly dropped the mug, spilling steaming hot chocolate onto her cold feet. She was close to panicking. Then she noticed the massive tree in the corner along with garland and lights strung across every inch of available wall space. And since when did she own a Frosty the Snowman cutout? She took a huge gulp of the hot cocoa, wishing that it was vodka. She tried to force herself to observe the situation objectively.
So it wasn't the worst thing her now apparently possessed house could've done, right? She would much prefer waking up to Christmas trees and hot cocoa than creepy voices and shit flying everywhere. At that moment she checked her phone to find a couple texts from Monty and one from Raven. She paused. OF FUCKING COURSE.
"Raven Reyes, magic extraordinaire how may I be of service?" Raven answered cheerfully. Raven was a lot of things, and cheerful was NOT one of them. This was concerning.
"What the fuck did you do?" Clarke gestured around wildly before realizing Raven couldn't see her.
Raven chuckled, "You know Clarkey-poo, you and Blake have a lot more in common than you think."
"I don't even want to know what you mean by that. Just tell me what you did to my house and make it stop. Leave the tree though, I can never get the decorations to look that good." Clarke was begrudgingly impressed by the magic's decorating job. Her homemade decorations were mixed in with some things she'd never seen before and was sure didn’t even exist in any normal store.
"See? It's not even a problem! Although it might be a tad annoying when it all keeps showing up in the middle of July. Just saying." Raven was incredibly pleased with her handiwork. Even her cat approved.
Clarke was a little less appreciative. "WHAT? I don't think so Reyes. I want it all gone by January. What do I have to do? I know your spells always have a catch. I'll even come over and clean your apartment if you want!”
Raven took a moment to truly enjoy Clarke's growing desperation before answering. "Well, you have to kiss someone under every single sprig of mistletoe that shows up in the house. They should appear on each day by midnight and in random spots until Christmas day, I'm not even sure where. Oh, but the catch is that it has to be the same person every time and you have until the next day to kiss that person before the mistletoe disappears. Oh! And in case you thought you could get out of this, at least one of the kisses has to be real. Not those kisses on the cheek that would bore the hell out of a priest. Frankly, I’m just tired of you and Blake and I need you to get your shit together for my sanity. It required drastic action. Plus, Christmas decorations are fun.”
"You've got to be shitting me. I will not kiss Bellamy under any circumstances.” Clarke was NOT amused.
“Love you too! The mistletoe will show up for six days. I’m looking forward to seeing you try to figure this out. I’ll see you at dinner tonight babe. And DON”T FORGET TO WEAR YOUR SWEATER! We have to make this year’s picture look even better than last year’s.” Raven hung up the phone and hummed happily. This was going to be epic.
Clarke stared dejectedly at her phone and sipped her admittedly delicious hot cocoa. “Well fuck.”
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Murphy woke up at around 1 pm to find that his bed felt considerably bigger than it did last night. Come to think of it, his pajama pants weren’t this big either. Murphy dragged himself out of bed in a confused daze and stopped short in front of his mirror. Literally, he was short. IN FACT, HE WAS TINY. THIS WAS NOT OKAY. THIS WAS THE OPPOSITE OF ANYTHING THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED EVEN REMOTELY ACCEPTABLE. Murphy turned slightly and his eyes were pulled to look at his ears. Were those... points? NO, NO, NO THIS WAS NOT HAPPENING. He whirled around only to come face to face with an elf suit. An honest-to-God elf suit draped across his chair. Murphy was this close to LOSING HIS SHIT. Murphy didn’t know about Raven’s powers yet and therefore was completely unaware that anything like this was even possible. He was startled out of his thoughts by his phone ringing.
He answered the call shakily to be met with Raven’s truly chipper greeting. “Hey there buddy! Haha.. buddy, I’m a real comedian you know? I should be getting paid for this shit. How’s your day been?”
Murphy was too distraught to really comprehend the majority of what she said although he did manage to catch her question. He tried his best not to let his voice crack as he answered “Oh y’know the usual. Not much is going on around here. Nothing at all actually. I’m honestly doing fantastic. Really fucking fantastic. Really.” He prayed that Raven would miss the sarcasm.
She didn’t. This was payback for him cock-blocking her last week. She was so close to going home with this beautiful redhead in a leather jacket when Murphy just had to swoop in and completely obliterate her chances. The girl was walking away within two minutes and Raven was stuck holding up an extremely wasted Murphy whom she was really tempted to let drop. With this in mind, Raven smiled to herself. “That’s awesome Murph, I just wanted to remind you that Clarke’s Christmas dinner is tonight and your attendance is mandatory. You also have to wear your sweater.” As she finished, Raven’s tone got distinctly more threatening.
Murphy swore under his breath. “Um yeah, about that, I don’t think it’s going to work tonight. I have a lot to do and I think I might be starting to come down with something. I’d hate to get you all sick.”
“Murphy, I’m only going to say this once. When I say mandatory, I mean MANDATORY. As in, you fucking better show up or I will not hesitate to show up at your house and drag you there myself by your dick. Are we clear?”
Murphy shuddered. He would not make the mistake of underestimating Raven Reyes. He still couldn't even think of what happened the last time without having nightmares for a week. “…Fine.” He had no clue what to do or what to say. There was no way he could explain this. Even he could only come up with so much bullshit.
“Wonderful. I’m glad we had this talk. Oh and Murphy, wear the hat and the shoes. It completes the look.” Murphy was left staring at the phone confused and horrified as Raven ended the call and leaned back in her chair. Her cat sat on her shoulder.
“You better record this tonight. I love watching humans being stupid”
“That might be a bit obvious but I think I can manage some stealthy pictures for you.” She looked over at her cat Bartholomeow.
He stared back unimpressed and said “Well if that’s the best you can do I suppose it will have to suffice. But I expect something special for dinner tonight.” He got up and slunk behind the curtain.
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By the time dinner was ready, it was safe to say that everyone was freaking out. For various reasons of course. Clarke was terrified of who she would have to kiss for the next six days. Bellamy was annoyed at his entire situation and stressed out because he couldn’t think of literally anyone else other than his arch nemesis to help him fix this shit-storm. Murphy was freaked out because he was an elf, which should have been impossible in the first place and now he also had to deal with people. Miller was freaking out because he wanted to propose to his boyfriend and he was terrified that he would fuck it up somehow and Monty would say no. Monty was freaking out because he didn’t know if his gift for Raven was good enough and he just wanted her to be happy. Octavia was freaking out because she couldn’t find her favorite spiky heels to go with her Christmas dress. Lincoln was freaking out because he wanted his casserole to be absolutely perfect and his girlfriend was freaking out which always made him upset. Jasper was freaking out because Jasper was always freaking out. Roan was absolutely not freaking out because Roan was above mere mortal things like emotions, and he certainly couldn't risk losing his cool composure for even a millisecond or the universe might implode. Meanwhile, Raven was still basking in the glory of her wonderful jokes and couldn't wait to see how the night would play out.
Everyone was just arriving as Clarke noticed the mistletoe hanging innocently near the stairwell. She made a mental note to be careful who she stood next to and took a deep breath. This was going to be interesting.
As everyone came in and shed their coats, they all noted how good it smelled. They complimented Clarke on her amazing decorations and she thanked them while looking pointedly at a very smug witch. It still felt incomplete and she realized that it was because Bellamy and Murphy were still absent. She didn't want to contemplate on why Bellamy’s presence meant anything to her when all they did was fight. She got irritated just thinking about how he was always so rude, and obnoxious, and arrogant, and stubborn, and totally hot when he was frustrated and looked at her with those intense eyes behind his glasses and crossed his arms which only made her think of those same arms holding her up against a wall as he roughly… NO. She scolded herself internally. Raven would not and could not win. She just had to make sure that she didn’t get caught under the mistletoe with Bellamy. No problem.
They were all piling food onto their plates impatiently when Clarke heard the hesitant knock at the door. She missed Raven’s feral grin as she swung open the door and was hit with an unexpected wave of disappointment at the sight of Murphy instead of her stupidly hot nerdy arch nemesis whom she was absolutely not attracted to in any way. Suddenly Clarke was pulled out of her thoughts as she took in the sight in front of her. Murphy was tiny. More specifically: Murphy was an elf. For the first time that day, Clarke felt an overwhelming sense of relief that her day had not been the weirdest. She burst out laughing as Murphy shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, glaring up at her the whole time.
“Not. One. Word.” He threatened, but the effect was lost due to the jingling bells on his hat and pointed slippers. As he spoke the lights on his ugly sweater blinked and Clarke lost it all over again.
She tried to talk through her laughter. “Raven.. what.. the fuck.. did you do?” Clarke wheezed. Raven only beamed as Murphy turned to her sharply.
“YOU did this? HOW? WHY? THIS IS NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE. DID I MENTION THAT I DESPISE YOU BECAUSE I DO.”
Raven proceeded to join in Clarke’s laughter and a deep voice from behind Murphy added dryly, “Yeah I think you can give Raven credit for that one. This too.” They all looked up to see a disgruntled Bellamy holding an umbrella firmly above his head to shield himself from his own personal snowstorm. Clarke and Raven were doubled over now, holding their stomachs and wiping tears out of the corners of their eyes. Once they finally found some semblance of composure, they all went inside only to be met with more deafening laughter from Octavia and the rest of the group.
The teasing continued throughout the night and no one even noticed how wary Clarke was around the stairwell. Everyone ate and laughed and Bellamy only picked a fight with Clarke once, which she found disturbing.
As they ate, Octavia couldn’t help but add, “Awe Bell, now your outside matches your inside!” Which was followed by more laughter and Bellamy’s dark glare.
Bellamy looked directly at Clarke as he replied, “Maybe, but at least my outside doesn’t look like Pier One’s Christmas section threw up on me, chewed me up, and spit me out.”
Clarke was suddenly feeling defensive over the magic’s beautiful work. “Oh really Blake? You think you could do better? I’ll take a little Christmas cheer over your drab excuse for a personality any day.” Octavia kicked Bellamy with her heel under the table before he could respond and he instead settled for scowling at them both fiercely.
Jasper was the one to break the tension as he was practically bouncing in his seat, requesting a piece of Clarke’s famous pie. Everyone else voiced their agreement loudly. Raven cheered and glanced over at Roan, who looked at Jasper with the kind of detached amusement that one has when observing toddlers in the park. At that moment Raven decided the Roan was far too put together. He most definitely needed a little bit of chaos in his life. She subtly cast a spell to ruffle his perfectly groomed hair and untie his boots. He suddenly appeared to be somewhat disconcerted but couldn’t place why.
Clarke brought everyone a significant slice of pie and they all moved into the glowing living room to open presents.
Clarke passed out presents and everyone immediately began tearing open their gifts. Raven opened hers to find a beautiful leather jacket that definitely looked expensive along with some herbs she needed for a potion. She launched herself across the couch to hug Monty fiercely. He was overwhelmed with relief that she liked it.
Jasper opened his presents like an excited kid and let out a squeal at the video games and a new pair of goggles along with a personalized lab coat courtesy of Clarke herself.
Lincoln and Octavia showed the group the tattoos that they got for each other as presents and everyone admired the artistry. Clarke even admitted that she had designed Octavia's, at which Bellamy looked at her in surprise.
Murphy unwrapped his gift to reveal a briefcase with a book on law and a check inside for a considerable amount of money. The group was shocked to learn that he’d always wanted to study law but felt like the timing was always wrong. Beside him, Raven looked smug and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Roan received a chisel from Jasper. At his quizzical expression, Jasper explained, “It’s to break through the stone wall you call your face.” Roan actually cracked a smile and gave Jasper a stiff hug which Jasper turned into an awkward bear hug before Roan cleared his throat.
Bellamy was next, opening Murphy’s gift. He tore the open the red paper to uncover a beautiful leather-bound copy of The Iliad. His face lit up with childlike wonder and he was so excited that he didn’t even comment on the glasses case because he was “always losing his old man glasses”. Murphy bumped Jasper’s fist and looked very proud of himself.
Miller had requested to give Monty his present last so Clarke slowly unwound the ribbon from her gift. Bellamy had bought her the massive watercolor set that she’d been going on about for months and she was so excited that she actually hugged him while he stood stiff and in shock. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to deal with feelings. Especially his feelings for Clarke (hypothetical feelings of course). He had no idea what any kind of stable relationship was actually like. So hugging was simply out of the question. It introduced far too many feelings. He decided that the best way to handle this was obviously to make her hate him. Of course, he had also given her a new smock “because she was always filthy” that said “Fuck bitches. Get Monet.” She loved it. This was not helping.
Finally, it was time for Monty’s gift and Miller was trying not to make it obvious that he was sweating buckets under his beanie. He was bad at talking in groups in the first place and this was a really big deal. He tried to take deep breaths and only ended up looking like a bullfrog puffing its chest out. Everyone looked at him expectantly and the anxiety only got worse. He tried to focus on what he was going to say but all of the words he had planned didn’t seem good enough and suddenly he couldn’t remember much of anything. He looked at Monty who gave him a warm and encouraging smile. Miller realized that nothing else really mattered as long as he got to spend his life with this adorable, caring and hilarious man. He slowly pulled out the box that was burning a hole in his pocket and lowered himself onto one knee.
Miller decided that he would do anything to see that look of joy and shock and excitement on Monty’s face as much as possible. He tried to tell Monty everything that he was feeling. He was normally awful at both feelings and talking but everyone seemed to know exactly what he was saying so he figured he hadn’t blown it yet. “Monty Green, we’ve been best friends for years and you’ve always been the only one I wanted to tell everything to. The only one I wanted to spend all my time with. You’ve always been the one I want to be happy. So when I first realized I loved you I thought I was screwed because I thought that I couldn’t tell you, and I sure as hell didn’t want to tell anyone else. And then I saw you and it all came out anyway. I’ve never been more relieved in my life. That’s why I’m doing this now, I can’t help it. I want to spend all of my time making you happy for as long as you’ll put up with me. Mont, will you marry me?”
Monty simply leaned down and pulled Miller up, kissing him soundly while their friends laughed and applauded. Miller slid the ring onto his hand and everyone got up to give them hugs and congratulations. Afterwards, they all had some beer to celebrate because no one gave enough of a shit to get champagne. Octavia even convinced everyone to sing a horrible rendition of White Christmas in honor of Bellamy, who’d given up a couple of hours ago and had resigned himself to being slowly cloaked in snow.
Clarke decided to escape for a minute and went into the kitchen to wash plates. She heard Bellamy come in after her and add his predictably judgmental jibe. “You really don’t know how to have fun, do you Princess? Too good to relax with the rest of us?”
“Do you ever get tired of being so bitter or does it just come to you naturally?”
“It’s a gift.” He smiled sarcastically.
Clarke couldn’t think straight anymore, she didn’t know if Bellamy was antagonizing her for fun or because he genuinely hated her. He’d given her that amazing gift and then went straight back to being an asshole. She decided to go back to the living room and of course, he followed her. Just as they were walking back in, Raven cleared her throat loudly. “Well what do y’know?” She exclaimed with false surprise and entirely too much glee for Clarke’s liking.
Bellamy glanced around confused until Clarke reluctantly pointed to the mistletoe hanging just above them in the stairwell. Bellamy stared at the mistletoe before closing his eyes and letting out a nearly silent groan. He opened them wide and Clarke saw panic flash across his face before he swooped in and swiftly pecked her on the cheek. He was gone before she could blink or move and she experienced an unpleasant pang of regret in her gut that it wasn’t a real kiss before coming to her senses. Then the situation dawned on her: she was going to have to find a way to convince Bellamy to come over for the next five days so that she could kiss him under the damn mistletoe. Clarke cursed every single god she could think of before rejoining everyone talking near the fireplace. Raven looked at her across the group and smirked.
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“You’re welcome.”
“Um.. Thanks? I don’t recall you doing anything particularly nice for me over the course of our extensive friendship so what am I thanking you for?” Clarke was confused, and with good reason. It was 8 in the morning and she normally refused to interact with other humans before the clock hit double digits so this was a lot. Add to that Raven’s generally suspicious behavior and tone, and Clarke was overwhelmed.
“Well I know that you’re completely hopeless. Sooooo I took the liberty of stealing Blake’s jacket last night and left it on your couch.” Raven seemed to be unusually pleased by this comparably minor prank.
“And what does that have to do with my hopelessness?” Clarke was still lost. She grudgingly moved to get out of bed since she was already awake now and paused. “Oh shit,” she muttered.
“There it is. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I got to remind you of your deadline with a certain someone today.” Raven had never been a morning person; but to fuck with people, she was willing to go to great lengths.
“Have I mentioned that I hate you yet?”
“I’m only trying to help y’know. You should really call Bellamy soon, he’s working on his thesis at and made me go pick up coffee from that place you guys are obsessed with because he can’t exactly take a stroll in a public area (Raven snickered) so he should pick up. Love you, bye!” Raven was practically singing. Bartholomeow was looking supremely peeved.
“I would appreciate it if you would keep your celebratory singing to yourself. Or at least put me down so that I can go hide under the bed.” Raven sighed, her cat was such a stick in the mud.
Clarke fell back onto her bed and groaned loudly. Why did she have to have such an obnoxious asshole for a best friend? She reluctantly texted Bellamy, telling him to stop by later and pick up his jacket.
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Bellamy sat at his kitchen counter trying to find a viable solution to his increasingly annoying problem. It turns out that showers in the snow are just about the worst thing he has ever experienced and it certainly hadn’t made it any easier to dry off. He was convinced that he could fix this without Clarke, although Google hadn’t been very helpful and his other friends were either busy or the devil who did this to him. When he looked at Clarke’s text he was less than surprised to find that Raven was probably meddling again. He sighed and headed over to Clarke’s house.
Bellamy was startled by Clarke’s front door swinging open before he had the chance to knock. Clarke stood in the doorway looking jittery (he always did think she looked cute when she looked like that) and he figured she was probably nervous about her gallery opening in two days.
“So where is it?”
Clarke looked weirdly shocked considering that she was the one who texted him about the jacket. “Oh the jacket! It’s just in the living room,” she said and swiveled around to lead him into the house.
Bellamy grabbed his jacket from off of the couch and turned around to leave again and thank Clarke for texting him when she practically assaulted him. Clarke immediately stepped away with a sheepish expression on her face. Had Clarke just kissed him on the cheek? Why in the hell…?
Clarke hastily made an excuse about thanking him for coming the night before despite being snowed on and he made a weak joke about being glad he wasn’t Murphy. Inside he was panicking. Not mild panic either, more like a raging panic similar to the blizzard that was hanging above his head. Before he could question her though, Clarke was shoving him out the door and he was left standing on her porch and staring at her door in confusion.
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Murphy called Raven as soon as he woke up (at 3 pm).
“Fix this.”
“Oh I don’t think so, I’m having way too much fun,” Raven grinned and continued to fiddle with her newest project. Bartholomeow was lounging on the cabinet next to her desk and watching her work with feigned indifference because she knew that he found it interesting considering he was there every time she was working.
She heard Murphy still whining on the other end. “Just fix it!”
“You’re so dramatic! Go to the park or something and make a kid’s day. Bugging me definitely isn’t going to do you any good.” Raven hung up and returned to her project.
Meanwhile, Murphy yelled “SHIT,” and fell back onto his bed.
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On the third day of Clarke’s personal mistletoe hell-fest, she woke up with a looming sense of dread. She had no idea how to keep coming up with excuses to kiss Bellamy; she thought it would be hard enough to come up with excuses to kiss anyone, but Bellamy was her nemesis, which made things considerably harder. She shuffled into her kitchen to make coffee and sat sketching in her favorite chair for most of the morning while trying to come up with a new scheme to get Bellamy over to her house for the third day in a row.
It was only after she showered and was wrapping some last-minute presents that she realized she hadn’t seen any mistletoe around. Upon this realization she had a brief thought that maybe Raven lifted whatever it was that she did in the first place and that she was off the hook. Then of course she realized that Raven would never be that merciful. She reasoned that she must have been distracted and missed it, so she went to hunt down the damn mistletoe and figure out a plan. She searched the house from top to bottom, even desperately checking some closets and cabinets when the mistletoe didn’t appear to be anywhere. Finally, she admitted defeat and called Raven.
“So hypothetically, what would happen if the mistletoe didn’t show up?”
“Interesting thought. I’m really not sure but usually when spells like this aren’t fulfilled or if they get interrupted, shit gets weird; and not like fun weird either,” Raven contemplated.
“Oh great,” Clarke muttered flatly. She ignored Raven’s probing questions and told her what had happened, or coincidentally what hadn’t happened.
“What if I sent Blake over to help you find it?” Raven said suggestively. Clarke would’ve bet that she even wiggled her eyebrows the way she knew Clarke hated. “You’re right it’s a great idea, I’m doing it.”
Clarke just sighed and didn’t even get to protest before Raven hung up.
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“Murphy, so help me God you better open this door within the next 15 seconds!” Raven continued to pound on Murphy’s door until she heard his reluctant shuffling on the other side.
“Are you here fix it now?”
Raven just laughed, “Oh that’s cute, but no. I’m here to make you leave this shoebox of an apartment. I have some Christmas shopping to finish up and I think it’s only appropriate that I be helped by one of Santa’s elves.”
Murphy scowled, “If you actually think that I am stepping a single jingly pointed shoe out into that hallway then you’re delusional.”
“If you actually think that you have any say in this at all then you must be delusional.” Raven stepped into the apartment and suddenly Murphy was moving too, although he definitely didn’t remember moving his feet. Murphy found himself floating over to his dresser and Raven crossed her arms, “Now get dressed and we can be on our merry little way.”
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“Raven said something about a mistletoe crisis? Mostly she threatened me until I agreed to come. So hi” Bellamy said as soon as Clarke swung open the door.
“Uhh..yeah, something like that.” Clarke was noncommittal in her answer. And she turned so that Bellamy couldn’t see the uncomfortable expression on her face.
“So I’m assuming this is a Raven thing because I highly doubt that she would give a shit about your mistletoe otherwise. Care to provide any clarifying details?” Given that Bellamy was extremely familiar with Raven pulling annoying pranks (see the cloud literally hanging over his head) he felt fairly confident that Clarke wasn’t frantically trying to find some mistletoe for no reason, that was the kind of sentimental shit that Clarke typically avoided at all costs.
“Well..” Clarke hesitated; this was going to be painfully awkward. “I sort of have to kiss someone under the mistletoe that shows up in my house for six days… and it has to be the same person… and that person is you.” Bellamy looked shell-shocked so Clarke decided it would be best to keep talking and allow him to process the information. “Basically if I don’t do it my house is going to be like the North Pole year-round only more evil. I’m not exactly sure what Raven meant by “shit getting weird and not in a fun way” but I really don’t think I want to find out.”
“Why am I involved again exactly?”
“You were the first one I ended up with under the mistletoe the other night at the party when all of this shit started so now it has to be you every time.” Clarke shrugged and looked apologetic as he attempted to make sense of the whole thing. Meanwhile, Bellamy was trying to wrap his head around the fact that Clarke was going to keep kissing him. Oh God, what if she actually kissed him and not just on the cheek. Bellamy felt his cheeks get hot and he immediately decided that they should find this damn mistletoe and get this mess over with as quickly as possible. For his sanity.
“Well where do we start?”
They combed the whole house. There was no mistletoe to be found and on top of that, Bellamy had gotten snow all over the house and as a result, Clarke kept slipping on the tiles in her kitchen. Of course, all of that work meant that they totally deserved a break for some cider. And if they happened to spend a little extra time trading stories and teasing each other, then nobody had to know.
“At what point are you planning to call it quits?” Bellamy questioned. Clarke just looked at him blankly and he sighed. “Is there a point that you ever call it quits? Probably a stupid question.” He’d momentarily forgotten that Clarke Griffin was the most determined and stubborn person that he had ever met.
Eventually though, he had to go back home to feed his cat who had probably started knocking his books off the shelves again and get something resembling sleep so he could maybe get rid of the godforsaken blizzard still storming above his head. As he was stepping across the threshold, Clarke looking frustrated, he heard a shriek of delight and whirled around to find a sprig of mistletoe staring him in the face. Great.
Clarke really did think it was great. She’d been about to resign herself to a future full of villainous gingerbread men and annoying Christmas jingles playing in her ears year-round. Or at least that was what she imagined. She stepped closer and moved to kiss Bellamy on the cheek. This was not the time to also spring on him the whole “real” kiss thing. But she got pulled in by the scent of his cologne, woodsy and warm, and the heat emanating from his broad chest near hers. The feeling of snowflakes slowly piling up on her eyelashes snapped her out of it and she pulled back after lingering for only a little too long. Bellamy looked a tad dazed but that could have easily been her imagination.
Bellamy walked to his car feeling a bit lightheaded. He cursed Raven again in his head. God, she was such a dick.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Raven dragged Murphy into the mall with a truly scary amount of glee. Murphy just felt (and looked) miserable. He notes the masses of children running around in Santa’s Village and cringed. He had never been the biggest fan of kids. They were just so loud.
Raven made a beeline for the nearest store and pulled Murphy along with her. As they shopped, people came up to them asking for pictures and laughing. Murphy was dangerously close to losing his shit. Yet another cute girl walked past him and laughed. He looked at Raven, hoping to find that she was done and they could finally be done with this hell. No such luck. In fact, Raven was looking back at him with a glint in her eye that Murphy definitely was not a fan of. Without saying anything, she grabbed onto his sleeve and before he knew it he was being thrust into the chaos that was Santa’s Village.
“Where have you been?! You’re 15 minutes late and Jeff needs a break. He’s had two kids try to tackle him and one threw up all over his pants.” A woman in an elf hat was already shoving Murphy forward and closer to the line of kids waiting for Santa. He didn’t have a second for excuses before he was assaulted by one of the kids.
“WOW, YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE AN ELF! I THINK THAT OTHER GUY WAS LYING. WHAT’S THE NORTH POLE LIKE? HOW MANY TOYS DID YOU MAKE THIS YEAR? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GETTING? CAN YOU TELL SANTA THAT I REALLY DIDN’T MEAN TO PUSH MY BROTHER’S FACE INTO THAT CAKE? MY HAND TOTALLY JUST SLIPPED! OOH, CAN YOU INTRODUCE ME TO SANTA’S REINDEER?”
After about two hours of that, Murphy was feeling borderline murderous. Raven was sitting on the sidelines with a cup of hot chocolate and an amused expression. She finally took pity on him and managed to persuade the terrifying woman in the elf hat to release him.
He looked at her flatly. “Have you had your fun?”
“I think I’m satisfied, yes. As much as I absolutely love this look on you I’ll change you back once we get back to your apartment.”
Murphy thought he could probably cry. He was so relieved that he almost started singing along with “Joy to the World” blasting through the mall speakers.
Once they got back to his apartment and he was himself again and Raven was gone, he did in fact put on some Christmas music. But no one needed to know that.
——————————————————————————————————————————
The next day Clarke woke up with a nervous knot in her stomach. This knot, however, was because of her gallery opening in the evening. She looked over at her closet and sighed. Her dress was admittedly gorgeous. Raven and Octavia had made her go to too many stores to count and try on even more dresses before finally approving of this one. When she’d come out in the figure-hugging red satin cocktail dress, they had both paused before bursting into embarrassingly loud applause. And although she was borrowing her mother’s diamond necklace, she couldn’t help but feel like a kid playing dress up. She would never have imagined that she would become successful enough to have a gallery opening in her honor. Her friends hadn’t seen any of the pieces for the show yet and honestly, Clarke was scared that they wouldn’t like them. She knew it was irrational but she couldn’t help it. Specifically, she was terrified that Bellamy would think she wasn’t good enough to have a show. She was very possibly trying to avoid analyzing that mess of feelings so that she wouldn’t admit to anything that she couldn’t rebury. To distract herself, she cleaned up her studio and made some cookies. The ingredients kept showing up on her counter so she figured she ought to at least make use of them.
Octavia came over in the afternoon to help her with her hair and makeup. Clarke was a very gifted individual in many ways but she couldn’t get evenly-winged liner for the life of her. She was also hopeless when it came to her hair. Given that Raven had threatened her with bodily harm if she came to the opening looking anything less than perfect and professionally-styled, she figured she needed Octavia’s help.
“You look absolutely stunning! I have to say that I’ve outdone myself.” Octavia leaned back and complimented her work as she put the finishing touches on Clarke’s red lipstick.
“I’ve always said that your best trait was your modesty, Tav,” Clarke joked. Octavia sprawled out on the bed as she slid on her dress.
“Ya know,” Octavia’s grin became feral. “I did make sure to use the smudge-proof lipstick so if you happen to get caught under the mistletoe with any tall, dark, and handsome men tonight, there won’t be anything getting in the way!”
Clarke groaned loudly. “So Raven told you?”
“If it makes you feel any better, Bell’s in the same boat.” At Clarke’s questioning expression Octavia giggled. “Oh he hasn’t said? Well, that is the sort of moronic shit he would do.”
Clarke was only getting more confused. She tried to ask Octavia what she meant but Octavia was already gathering her tools and products and practically running out the door, making excuses about needing to get ready herself. Weird.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Bellamy felt like a 17-year-old going to prom as he pulled up to Clarke’s house. He was her ride to the gallery opening per Raven’s request. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to actually attend given the blizzard above his head (he figured that would garner some unwanted attention), but he’d still agreed to at least drive her there. He was wearing his tux just in case, mostly because Octavia had threatened immense physical pain if he didn’t. As he was about to knock on the door, it swung open and Octavia almost barreled into him but stopped herself at the last second. “Clarke’s just finishing getting ready upstairs.” Then she was rushing past him to her car. Weird.
“Hey Clarke, Octavia let me in,” Bellamy yelled up the stairs. From her room, he heard a muffled response.
“Alright, you want to come up? I’m just putting my shoes on.”
He climbed up the stairs only to stop short at the doorway to Clarke’s room. She was leaning to put on her other stiletto and her hair fell in perfect waves covering her face. When she straightened and turned toward him, Bellamy’s brain completely short-circuited. She was radiant. And that dress… He stood there in the doorway staring at her like an idiot for an awkward moment before he finally managed to redirect his eyes to her face. She wore a smug expression and he definitely wasn’t going to live that down, but he still didn’t even have it in him to tell her to shut up.
As she walked toward him, a sprig of mistletoe appeared in the door in a cheery cloud of glitter. They both looked up, and at each other, and back up. Clarke shrugged and they stepped closer to each other. Clarke was fully expecting another chaste kiss on the cheek but Bellamy took them both by surprise when he swept Clarke into a real, warm, head-spinning, toe-curling kiss. Bellamy didn’t give his body any real directions before he found himself acting on impulse, and once his brain caught up with his actions he wanted to punch himself. He was sure Clarke was going to pull away in disgust. But she didn’t. Once Clarke recovered from the initial shock of being kissed by Bellamy Blake, she found that she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. Instead, she clutched his jacket closer to her. When he realized she wasn’t pulling away, he deepened the kiss. He slid his tongue against hers and the kiss became hotter and wetter. Clarke felt his arms wrap around her waist tightly and pull her into him further. When he finally pulled away, Clarke felt dizzy and she leaned on him as she tried to catch her breath.
Bellamy suddenly felt different, warmer. As he tried to understand what changed, Clarke poked him in the chest and tilted her head up to get him to look up. He found that the blizzard that had been plaguing him for the past several days had entirely disappeared. He really didn’t want to analyze the timing. Clarke raised her eyebrows at him, silently asking why and Bellamy simply couldn’t bring himself to explain. He lurched backward and told Clarke that he would wait for her in the car. Clarke was left standing in the doorway and questioning her own feelings. That was a hell of a kiss. She was going to chalk it up to built up tension from all their fighting and plain old attraction, nothing more. What else would it be?
When Clarke got into the car beside Bellamy she had no idea what to say, and apparently neither did he because rather than their usual banter, they spent the whole ride to the gallery in weird, tense silence. Clarke was not a fan of the change. She thought that if this was the result of acting on her (totally nonexistent) feelings for Bellamy, then it certainly wasn’t worth it. For Bellamy’s part, he couldn’t help but panic. This meant Raven was right. Or was it just her spell? He couldn’t imagine feeling that warm around anyone but Clarke… That was scarier than any spell. Shit. He loved her.
As soon as they arrived, Clarke jumped out of the car. At least now he could see her gallery opening… Bellamy sat reeling for a moment before he followed her inside.
“Clarke these are really powerful.” Lincoln was always the best at interpreting her art. Clarke was relieved at the distraction and let her friends complements and conversation take over her thoughts.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Bellamy felt queasy when he woke up. His realization combined with his actions and Clarke’s response had left him with no shortage of material to overthink. He really thought his head might implode.
As he was going through his morning routine, drinking much-needed coffee, and working on his thesis, his door burst open and banged against the wall. His coffee spilled all over the tile counter and onto his faded blue shirt. Goddamnit Raven.
“Morning Blake! So, I couldn’t help but notice that your cloud seems to have disappeared. And I know for a fact that it would only do that if you kissed Clarke and had an epiphany. So spill.”
“You know what my favorite thing about you is? Your absolute lack of regard for regular conventions of society such as knocking, noise level, and personal privacy in general.” Bellamy grumbled and cleaned up the mess on his countertop. The shirt was a lost cause.
“I will repeat myself: spill.”
Bellamy groaned and knew he was about to cave. “Fine so we kissed. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that you love her, shit-head.”
“What good does that do me if she doesn’t feel the same way?”
Raven looked supremely unimpressed. “And you’re basing this conclusion on what exactly?”
“She never said anything! And she totally avoided me the rest of the night.”
“Um if I recall correctly (which I always do), you weren’t exactly jumping at the chance to talk to her either. And I bet you were probably weird after the kiss too. In fact, I bet you freaked out and ran away.” Bellamy sulked at the counter while Raven cackled. She knew he’d be ridiculous about this. “So what are you going to do today? You know you still have to go over there.”
“Don’t remind me..”
“Too late. I would suggest making her some soup and bringing it over. She said that she’s working in the studio today and you know she never remembers to eat.” That did the trick; Bellamy could never resist taking care of people. He didn’t disappoint her.
“Well, I guess I could bring her some food. She’d starve if I didn’t make her non-microwavable meals regularly.”
Raven just looked at him smugly.
——————————————————————————————————————————
Clarke sat in her studio with light filtering in through the windows in that soft way that only seems to happen on winter mornings. She was glaring at her blank canvas as though it was personally responsible for all of her current problems, of which there were a lot. Eventually, she sighed and just tried to turn off her thoughts. Maybe she could paint her problems away.
She sat back what seemed like only minutes later to find a mostly completed painting of… Bellamy Blake?? When she got over her shock, she found herself quite impressed. Her flowing strokes had managed to catch the movement of his curls and she had somehow found the perfect shades to capture the warmth of his eyes, a feat she’d never managed before. Even his freckles were perfectly placed and delicate in a way that made her feel shy. Finally, she realized what had brought her out of her daze. There was an insistent knocking at the door that was rapidly becoming louder and more impatient.
When Clarke opened the door, she found Bellamy himself standing on her porch with what looked like a Tupperware full of soup and a sheepish expression on his face. She was just about to open her mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing at her house before she remembered the mistletoe. Right. So she simply opened the door a little wider and wondered how on earth they were ever going to get back to normal after that kiss. That magical, amazing, perfect kiss.
“I thought you could probably use some sustenance. I know you always forget to eat when you’re working.” Bellamy’s face became smug as he realized he was right.
“Well, I had some coffee this morning… that counts right?”
Bellamy was not impressed. “No, it most definitely does not. Now shut up and eat your soup. Maybe once you’re done you could show me what you’re working on.” He was desperate to talk about something that might possibly distract him from staring at her lips creepily. Not that any subject with Clarke was really safe. Especially when she got really excited about a new piece and started waving her paint-covered arms around and got all flushed…
Meanwhile, Clarke was panicking. Bellamy could not see her painting. That was a level of embarrassing that she really wasn’t sure she could handle at that moment. One look at that painting and he would know. Know what exactly? That thing she couldn’t even admit to herself… the fact that she was in completely, totally, and stupidly in love with Bellamy Blake.
She finished her bite before making a half-assed excuse about it not being anywhere near good enough for viewing. She knew Bellamy didn’t buy it. She’d never let it stop her from showing him her work before. Funnily enough, she was normally more comfortable sharing her work with Bellamy than just about anyone else. It had always felt safer to open up to him, even when he was antagonizing her. She looked back down at the soup he’d brought her. Because he cared. He was smiling at her, awkward but fond when she looked up. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Bellamy saw the painting…
Before the thought had fully formed in her mind, Clarke was startled by a swooshing sound and mistletoe appearing above them at her kitchen table.
Bellamy was unsure as to the best way to navigate this situation so he went with a quick and uncomfortable kiss on the cheek before immediately scooting to the farthest end of his chair away from Clarke. He sat blushing and avoiding eye contact for another minute before saying, “You know I should really get back to work on my writing so I’ll let you enjoy your soup.”
Clarke looked up and seemed slightly disappointed, but that could’ve been his mind playing into his feelings.
After he left, Clarke sat at her table thinking about how this whole situation was completely insane and confusing and how she wouldn’t change a single thing.
——————————————————————————————————————————
The morning of Christmas Eve was announced by an extremely annoying buzzing sound in Clarke’s ear. She was supremely pissed. She’d stayed up most of the night finishing her painting of Bellamy because she’d finally decided that she needed to stop being a little bitch about her feelings. Of course, she’d only reached that conclusion that after a not-so-fun lecture (mostly threats and yelling) from Raven after Bellamy left… and a talk with Octavia… and then a surprise call from Monty who was very comforting and supportive. Why couldn’t all of her friends just be Monty?
When she looked at her phone she saw that it was Wells calling and instantly decided all was forgiven despite the ungodly hour. She missed him like hell.
“Hey! I know it’s early but I figured I’d call you before all the madness started, plus I had some free time to kill.”
Clarke felt warmer already. “You know I love it when you call me, but if you ever call me this early again I will get on the first redeye flight to Vancouver and smother you with a pillow myself.”
Wells laughed and Clarke heard some indistinct voices that didn’t sound like his traditional Home Alone marathon. “Where are you right now?”
Wells made an indistinct noise and she just knew he was doing that weird smile he always did when he didn’t want to answer a question but didn’t want to lie.
“Okaaayyy, well tell your roommate I said hi and Merry Christmas; or is Jackson Jewish? I always forget… Anyways, are you going over to your dad’s again this year? My mom called the other day and mentioned that he misses you. I do too obviously.”
“I’ll let him know anyway. I was actually thinking about doing something a little different this year…”
Wells was being weird. But Clarke was way too exhausted to try and figure out what was happening. They talked for a little bit longer: general life updates and customary shit-talking, before Wells had to go. Clarke rolled back over once he hung up and immediately fell back asleep.
She was rudely awakened once again by loud knocking on her door. She was tempted to just ignore it, but then the snowballs started pelting her windows and she gave up.
She opened the door to Raven’s smug smile in her face. From behind her, Wells smiled and waved excitedly. Clarke screamed and launched herself at him for a hug. He always did give the best hugs.
“YOU’RE HERE!! HOW?? OH MY GOD I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Clarke was ecstatic.
“I figured it had been long enough since I got to hug you in person. Also Raven stole your phone and basically figured out all of the logistics.”
Raven shrugged, “Merry Christmas!”
“You are actually the best,” Clarke said happily.
“So I keep telling you.”
They all went inside and Wells admired the decorations while Clarke went to get changed. Raven followed her up the stairs. “So Wells, is he single?” Clarke grinned at her and Raven groaned, “Oh shut up.”
The rest of the day was spent in a flurry of preparations and making sure everything looked perfect. Bellamy was coming over for dinner because Octavia and Lincoln were going to his parents’ house and the rest of the group had plans with family. Well Murphy was coming too, but Clarke didn’t really care what Murphy thought of anything.
When Bellamy arrived, Clarke had to take a moment to breathe in the kitchen so that she didn’t lose her shit. Her nerves were sort of eating her alive. She heard Wells opening the door and Bellamy’s gruff greeting and figured she had better go out there and get it over with. Something about ripping the band-aid off, right?
When Bellamy was greeted at the door by a very attractive man instead of Clarke, he was shocked to say the least. He remembered Clarke talking about Wells, but he was so far away that Bellamy had always sort of assumed they would never meet. Shock quickly turned into something else when Clarke came out of the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Wells’ waist. He looked down at her with a warm expression and Bellamy’s eyes narrowed. It only got worse.
During dinner, Clarke sat next to Wells and barely spared Bellamy a glance. After dinner, Clarke brought out dessert and hot chocolate and sat pressed up against Wells on the couch. When Wells put his hand on her knee, Bellamy had had enough. He was sitting rigidly in his seat and avoiding looking at the pair of them on the couch so that they wouldn’t see his burning glare. Raven didn’t miss it though, and rather than help him, she sat back and looked thoroughly amused as he struggled to remain calm.
Finally, Clarke went into the kitchen to refill hot chocolates and Bellamy offered to help. He knew he was looking for a fight to pick but he couldn’t help himself. Had their kiss really meant so little to her that she felt no remorse about openly flirting with another guy right in front of him?
So when Clarke gave him a full, steaming cup, he purposefully made a show of stumbling before bumping into her and spilling hot chocolate all over her sweater.
“WHAT THE FUCK BELLAMY??” Clarke yelped as the hot chocolate soaked through her sweater. She rushed to the laundry room with Bellamy on her heels and tore the sweater over her head, throwing it into the machine. Bellamy felt a rush of regret when he noticed the pink skin that was revealed when her undershirt rode up. The hot chocolate probably burned her. But then he remembered why he was so mad in the first place.
“It’s not my fault you filled the mug too high,” he stated haughtily.
“You can’t even apologize, seriously?? You’ve been an ass all night, what the hell is going on??” Clarke was indignant. She couldn’t believe he was acting like this. It felt like they’d gone back to the way things used to be. She hated it.
“Oh you think I’m bad? You’re the one who’s been flaunting your relationship with Wells all night. Do you think I’m stupid?”
Clarke was stunned, but mostly really fucking pissed. “Are you serious? You know that Wells is my friend. I can’t believe you’re being such a dick about this! You have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do, Bellamy. I don’t belong to you and I can be friends with whoever the fuck I want.”
“Wow. That kiss really didn’t mean anything to you did it?” Bellamy laughed bitterly.
“Is that what this is about?”
“Of course that’s what it’s about Clarke! How can you be so goddamn oblivious?”
“Me?! I can’t believe you. How can you not see that that kiss meant the world to me?”
Bellamy was too frustrated to fully process what she’d said, only rebutting with, “So what about Wells, huh? You’re going to tell me that none of that meant anything?”
Clarke didn’t have words to express how infuriated she was with this man. So she grabbed his collar instead and pulled him into a searing kiss. She wasn’t nice about it. He responded hungrily and she bit his lip roughly, trying to convey her emotions without words. She was tired of yelling. His calloused hands gripped her hips tightly and lifted her on top of the washing machine. Her hands pulled at his hair and he groaned roughly into her mouth. They didn’t even notice the mistletoe swinging cheerfully above them. They were finally interrupted by Raven banging on the door to the laundry room. She’d grown impatient.
They looked at each other, suddenly shy and silently agreed to talk about this later. Later turned out to be as soon as they stepped out because when they entered the living room, Wells was holding up her painting of Bellamy and admiring it. When she looked to Raven for an explanation she simply said, “I needed a distraction while you guys sorted out your multitude of issues.”
Bellamy was staring at the painting in awed silence. It felt deafening to Clarke. “Is that.. me?”
Clarke felt her cheeks go pink and admitted, “It’s for you. For Christmas.”
Bellamy turned to her and the shine in his eyes told her that he knew exactly what that painting meant. He knew what she was trying to say in each one of those brush strokes. He pulled her into an unexpected hug and she instantly felt more relaxed and at home than she had for the past month. They sat on the couch admiring the painting and Clarke leaned into him, feeling content. They all looked up at the knocking on the door in confusion.
“Oh shit, we forgot about Murphy!” Clarke exclaimed.
Raven shrugged, “Not like it was hard, he’s literally two and a half hours late.”
Murphy walked in behind Clarke and observed how she immediately returned to Bellamy’s side and his arm came around her tightly. “So… what did I miss?”
Raven just started cackling. What a dick.