AN: The next addition to this AU! Obviously, this takes place after both Ghost Stories and Intrusions. This would take place late in junior year of their degree programs. So they've known each other for about 3 years. Mentions of past Flarke and Clexa.

First Kisses

Clarke had been uncomfortably aware of how attractive Bellamy was almost since day one. Yes, he had been that jerk her roommate slept with, but he'd always been that attractive jerk Raven had slept with. But Clarke was nothing if not single minded when she decided on something, and so when she'd decided to ignore how unfairly attractive Bellamy was, she'd thought she'd done a pretty damn good job.

But when she was forced into a position where she was touching the warm, smooth skin of his chest and upper arms, it became way, way more difficult than she would have ever expected.

"You all right there, Princess?" Bellamy asked, voice cutting through the distracted haze that had hit Clarke's mind when he had stripped off his shirt.

"Fine," Clarke replied briskly, hoping that the attitude would distract from her previous staring. She applied the warm cloth that had been dangling from her fingers to the abrasion on his arm and handed him some ice wrapped in a hand towel to press against his swelling eye. It was the best she could find in the room she shared with Raven, stealing from her roommate's supply of booze ice. "Remind me again why you thought it was a good idea to get in a fight with Gus? He has a half a foot and fifty pounds on you."

"He was being a jerk to you," Bellamy replied flatly, tracing patterns on the comforter of Clarke's bed, where she had shoved him in order to try and clean him up. "And it pissed me off, because he had no grounds for it. It was Lexa that-"

Bellamy cut himself off, and Clark had to give him props for it, because as a general rule he had always been really bad at checking himself when he got a cause in his mind. But that didn't stop her expression from souring at the mention of that name – Lexa – because they both knew where that particular rant was going.

"That cheated on me," Clarke finished for him, grapping the Polysporin and q-tip and beginning to apply it to the gash Gus had left on Bellamy's jaw. "You can say it. I was stupid over her, and she didn't think twice about betraying me. Just like she did with Anya."

With me, Clarke's mind added, though she hadn't known when she first met Lexa that she already had a girlfriend. When she'd found out, she had, of course, confronted the other woman, had told her that she wouldn't be involved with someone that was already involved.

Lexa had sworn that she loved Clarke, that she had, in fact, already broken up with Anya, and though Clarke hadn't forgiven her immediately, forgiveness had eventually occurred, and now Clarke was left feeling just like Anya must have. Betrayed and like an utter idiot.

Everyone had warned her, that Lexa got bored easily. But like a fool Clarke had ignored them and fallen recklessly head over heels. And now, eight months later, she still felt like an idiot.

"Hey," Bellamy said as Clark set the Polysporin aside and turned around to reach for a bandaid. His hand closed around her wrist, and he tugged her around so that she looked at him. "You know that it was her loss, right? Lexa was an idiot who clearly didn't deserve you, and now that you're not together? It's her loss, Princess."

"Thanks, Bellamy," Clarke replied, her lips curving in a smile. Bellamy still held her wrist, his hold warm and comforting, and he slowly returned her smile. They probably looked like idiots, sitting there, grinning at each other, but Clarke found that she couldn't look away. Their position mean that their faces were just inches apart, and she could count the freckles that dusted his cheeks, if she wanted to. She could see the tiny scar on his lip, the result of an experiment that Monty and Jasper had decided try, that had gone wrong, and thinking of that made her think of how Bellamy had, somehow, become so entrenched in her life.

He had started as just her roommates fuck buddy, then they had learned to tolerate each other, and somehow that had turned into him spending time with her friends as well, and studying with her in the library, because he knew that she hated the noises the stacks made, and how books always seemed to be falling, whenever she was there alone.

She had been staring at that scar, she realized with surprise, and that meant she had been staring at his lips. Her tongue swept out to wet her own, because she realized with a surprised jolt that he had been staring at her lips in turn. His gaze darted up, met hers for a breathless second.

And then she had pressed her lips to his, tangled her hands in his dark, curly hair, and pulled him into her. She had a brief moment of sane thought right after skin contacted skin – what the hell do I think I'm doing? – and then he had nipped her bottom lip, swept his tongue into her mouth, and pulled her against his warm, hard body, and any sane thoughts left her mind.

His hair was softer than she had imagined it would be – not that she had imagined it that often. But it was so thick and curly, that she'd just thought it would be coarse, should she ever have the need to touch it. But it wasn't. It was thick, yes, but soft. Her fingers ran through it easily, trailing down the back of his head to cling around his neck.

He half lifted half tugged her down, so that she straddled his lap. She didn't mind, the angle allowed her to kiss him more comfortably, and it meant that her legs no longer had to support her legs. She could let them hang loosely on either side of them, and concentrate instead on the taste of him. His fingers splayed themselves on her hip, holding her steady, and she could feel the warmth of them even through the material of her jeans.

God… he was just so warm.

She pulled back, because her body was reminding her that Oxygen was a thing she needed, and they both gasped desperately for air, their breath mingling together, because she stayed close enough that she could rest her forehead against his.

"What are we doing, Princess?" he asked, closing his eyes, his grip on her hips tightening slightly.

"I have no idea," Clarke replied honestly, because what were they doing? He was her roommates kind of ex, her kind of friend, and they were really all sorts of wrong for each other. But – "I don't really want to stop. You?"

"God, no."

This time, he pulled her in for the kiss, and Clarke let him, not even pulling back when he let his upper body fall back to land on the bed. She just went with him, firmly attached at the lips and enthusiastically exploring his mouth. She moved her hands from his neck, trailing them down his body, over his arms –

And felt him recoil when her hand hit tender skin on his arm, from where he hit a wall in his fight with Augustus. The reminder had Clarke pulling back, because he had a black eye and a cut jaw and who knew what else, and her she was practically mauling him.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she stated, climbing off of him, and turning back to her makeshift first aid station to get the forgotten bandage.

"I thought you just said you didn't want to stop. What changed, Princess?"

Clarke turned back with a frown at his belligerent tone of voice, because what the hell had crawled up his and –

Oh. She blinked when she met his gaze, as belligerent as his voice, and realized that he probably had decided she was having second thoughts or something.

"I know that you were into Lexa, Clarke, but not everyone in the world is going to hurt you like that. I thought you would trust me enough to-"

"I need to finish bandaging you," Clarke held up the bandaid, and it was Bellamy's turn to blank and stare at her with a vacant, surprised look. "You're probably going to be sore in the morning. Me crawling all over you… probably not going to help."

"Oh," Bellamy replied, holding still so Clarke could finish with the cut on his jaw.

"And I do trust you," Clarke continued. "I mean, even when you were taking a new girl to bed every other week back in freshman year, it's not like you were leading any of them on. Raven told me about the speech you gave – the this is just fun, not a relationship spiel – and she said it sounded pretty rehearsed."

"She told you about that?" Bellamy looked a little sheepish and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess that explains why you spent most of that year looking at me with that distasteful look you're so good at."

"That wasn't distaste. That was… me not having a clue what to do with you," Clarke admitted, beginning to clear up her supplies. She had done all she could for Bellamy. "You were so… you. But you also spent nearly half an hour with me while pretending you didn't know where Raven's physics notes were. And then there was that whole do whatever the hell we want thing you and Murphy decided was a good idea-"

"The idiocy of youth," Bellamy agreed, and Clarke didn't have to see his face to know he was amused. "You stopped it pretty quick."

"You were idiots" – she paused and chewed on her lip thoughtfully – "well, Murphy is still an idiot. You have your redeeming moments."

"Hmm," Bellamy hummed, before silence fell between them. Clarke didn't know what to say, she didn't know what any of this meant. She'd had exactly two – failed – relationships since starting at University. The first was Finn, Raven's high school ex and her high school best friend, who had transferred schools after there had been some issues between him and their rival university. Then there had been Lexa, and, well…

Yeah, that hadn't gone so well.

"I'm not going to tell you that this is just fun," Bellamy said at last, and Clarke's gaze shot to him. He looked back, very seriously. "I'm not eighteen and stupid anymore, Princess. And you're not the type of girl I'd just has fun with."

"I think I feel insulted on Raven's behalf," Clarke replied, trying to lighten the mood, but Bellamy just gave a dry snort and shook his head.

"Not that easy to distract me, Clarke. Raven was fun. Because that's all either of us was looking for, and it's good, because her and Wick are good together. But I knew right from the start, when I left your room and you gave me that look of yours, that irritated one that makes you look so damn cute, that you would be trouble for me."

"I'm not trouble-"

"Yeah, that's the look I was talking about. Right there. And of course you're trouble. You have me watching out for Raven and Monty and Jasper, even though the three of them like to get drunk and blow shit up more often than not. It's giving Miller grey hairs, you know. And if it weren't for you, Octavia wouldn't have met Lincoln, and damn if that doesn't give me grey hairs. So yeah, you're trouble, of the very best kind."

"I'm not ready to be in another relationship, Bellamy," Clarke admitted at last, sitting on her chair across from him. "They don't tend to end well for me. Finn went crazy. Lexa turned out to be a backstabbing bitch. I'm 0 for 2 here."

"Did it ever cross your mind that maybe it's because they just weren't right for you?"

Of course it had. On more than one occasion. Finn had been cute, had made Clarke feel confident, but Finn was the type that needed to save someone. He had been Raven's knight in high school, and then had tried to be Clarke's. But Clark hadn't needed saving, and in the end Finn had tried to stir up trouble to create that roll for himself in her life. It had been doomed from the start.

And Lexa… Lexa had been beautiful and wild and had made Clarke feel alive, but she'd also thrown Clarke's life into disarray, and when she hadn't been up to it – to the wild and the partying and taking life one day at a time rather than planning – Lexa had left, bored, because their lives were headed down very different paths.

But just because Clarke knew both relationships had been doomed, didn't make the failure hurt any less.

"I'm not proposing to you, Princess," Bellamy said, hooking his foot around the chair so he could wheel it forward and take Clarke's hands in his own. "I'm not even promising that this won't end badly. We both have strong opinions, and they clash pretty often… but I've wanted to kiss you like that since freshman year. And I've wanted to be more than just a friend since the first time I walked into the library and caught you ghost hunting because the stacks were creaking again."

"Books fall in there, Bellamy. It's a perfectly valid fear-"

"Did you hear anything else I just said, Clarke?"

Clarke sighed and looked down at their hands. Their fingers were intertwined, and she didn't want to pull away. She liked the way they fit together, his skin dark and freckled against her own smaller, paler hands. Their hands had always fit together like that, and thinking back made her think of how natural it had always felt to touch Bellamy. Letting him help her up from the table at a club, or in the library. A pat on the shoulder when Raven, inevitably, beat him at chess, because she was weirdly genius at that game. A hand on the small of her back, when they presented a united front before Monty and Jasper, with Miller in the corner watching his boyfriend with fond eyes, because seriously? Using their TA credentials to get into the chem labs after hours to play with the chemicals was not a thing that was okay.

"I heard it all, Bellamy," she replied, still looking at their hands. "You do know Raven is going to gloat, right? She's been trying to push us together since… well, probably since she stopped sleeping with you. Possibly even before that."

"Is that a deal breaker?" Bellamy raised a brow. "Raven gloating?"

"No," Clarke looked at him thoughtfully, her finger tracing patterns on his palm. "I'm not calling you my boyfriend."

Bellamy looked ready to argue, but Clarke decided she had him figured out – she knew the best way to shut him up.

She pulled him in for another kiss.

AN: And there you go. If you have anything you want to see in this AU, drop me a note either here or on my tumblr, where I'm lynyrdwrites. Remember that these don't have to be in order, so I will still write stuff that takes place before this chapter. And in case you're wondering, yes Octavia/Lincoln, Raven/Wick, and Monty/Miller are together in this AU. There will also probably be mentions of Kabby.