Chapter Text
Before Wells Jaha moved to Boston, Bellamy wouldn't have said he was the jealous type.
He's certainly possessive, but he tends to be fairly secure about his place in his friends' lives. He and Octavia don't always get along, but he's her only brother, and no one is ever going to threaten that. He guesses someone else could probably replace him as Miller's best friend, but Miller is generally too lazy and apathetic to meet new people, and he secretly loves Bellamy. And he doesn't care that much if most other people leave, honestly; he'd miss Raven and Monty and Jasper if they moved away or something, but he's not worried they're going to get other friends they like more than they like him. And even if they did, he wouldn't really care. He doesn't need to be Monty's favorite. He doesn't care.
Unfortunately, Clarke Griffin exists.
He did not fall instantly and completely in love with Clarke at first sight; he barely noticed her at first sight, honestly. She was just Octavia's new roommate, someone he assumed would have very little impact on his life.
He doesn't even feel stupid for not realizing. How was he supposed to know?
Still, the stab of jealousy the first time he sees her throw herself into Wells' arms is as unpleasant as it is unexpected.
Obviously, hew knew he loved her. And he knew she liked Wells. Wells comes up often in her stories about her childhood and college, and he's one of the people she looks forward to seeing when she visits home. He'd always felt a strange kind of lurch at that, but--Clarke saw Wells one or two weeks a year, and sees Bellamy three or four times a week. They weren't in comparable positions in her life. He never felt like a threat.
But Clarke is all bright grins and hugs when Wells arrives, and Bellamy feels a flare of anger so bright and hot that it honestly freaks him out.
"You could just ask her out before he can," Octavia says, as they're driving over to Wells' place.
"I don't want to ask her out."
"Sure you don't. You just want to punch her friend in the face for no reason."
"I don't want to punch him," Bellamy lies. "I don't get why you're making a big deal about this. I'm never friendly to anyone. Why would I make an exception for him?"
"Because he's Clarke's friend," says Raven. "But you don't like him because he's hot and Clarke was touching him more than she was touching you. It's cool, I get it. You're threatened. He's taller than you are."
"I'm not threatened."
"He's hot, too."
"I'm hot," Bellamy grumbles.
"Yeah," Raven says, consoling. "Just not as hot as Wells."
"I can still shove you out of the car."
"But you're not jealous or anything," says Octavia.
"Nope," he says. "Just a misanthropic asshole."
Octavia scowls at him, unimpressed. "Don't be a dick to Clarke about this. You've had three years to make a move on her and you haven't. It's not her fault you didn't and now you've got competition."
If they pretended he wasn't obviously in love with Clarke, it would help, but not as much as it would help if they told him he was overreacting. But apparently they're just going to mock him and tell him that Clarke is just as obviously in love with someone else, so fuck them, honestly.
"I will turn this car around," he tells his sister. "Just give me an excuse."
*
When Clarke moved in with Octavia, she was dating a girl named Lexa. They'd broken up before he became friends with her, so he hadn't had much of an opinion on the two of them.
He'd been starting to have a thing for her when she went on her two dates with Finn, but they hadn't been serious, and he'd been in denial. Then she found out Finn had another girlfriend and cried on him about it, as much because she was annoyed with herself for caring as from actual heartbreak, and that was when he'd realized, with an uncomfortable lurch, how much she mattered to him.
Of course, being the competent and emotionally mature human being he is, he'd gone out, gotten drunk, and slept with a girl he picked up at a bar, who turned out to be Finn's other girlfriend. A real winning situation all around.
But Clarke hadn't seemed to mind at all. She and Raven became friends, and she liked Bellamy as easily as she always had, in spite of his grumpiness and general failure to act like a real person.
He'd never come up with a specific plan for how to make a move from their existing relationship, in part because he's a fucking coward and in part because he's never really tried to date someone like he wants to date Clarke.
And now Wells is here, and he's too late.
The first few weeks, Bellamy tries to tell himself it's not a big deal. It's not like he was dating Clarke before, and he's not dating her now. No part of his life has changed, not in any meaningful way. Clarke still hangs out on her couch with him, mocking bad TV shows and bickering about how much skill is really involved in competitive reality shows. He can still convince himself, sometimes, that if he leaned over and kissed her, she'd kiss him back.
Then, it's Wednesday, and Wells opens up Clarke and Octavia's door with his own key.
"Oh, hey," he says, sounding awkward. They're watching Jeopardy, and Bellamy had been thinking about suggesting they order pizza and find a Netflix movie for some kind of drinking game. In theory, there's no reason he can't do that with Wells around, but--he can't. "Betters, right?"
Clarke elbows him. "You know we'd still like you even if you weren't a total dick all the time, right?"
You gave him a key, he thinks, but says, "I didn't think you liked me now."
"Are we getting pizza?" Clarke asks, ignoring him. "You want in on pizza, Wells?"
"I can take off," Wells says, sounding awkward. "I didn't know you had company."
"Bellamy's not really company," Clarke says, and it's fond, but it still makes his chest twist up. "He practically lives here."
"And I actually have a date to get to," he says, even though it is a total lie, and a shitty one at that. "So you guys can get pizza without me."
Clarke frowns at him. "Who's the date?"
"Just a thing my coworker set up," he says. "I'm not expecting much, but I'll text you pictures if she's hot."
"You better," Clarke says, with a smile that's slightly off, but Wells goes to sit with her and she lets him go. So it's for the best.
*
"You don't get to lie about having plans and then get pissed at Clarke for believing you have plans," Miller tells him. Obviously, there was no way he was going back to his own place, so he ended up at Miller's, which is fine, but not really where he wanted to be with his evening. He could have gotten this same level of Miller interaction remotely.
"She could have asked me to stay."
"Again, you literally told her you had something else to do. You want her to tell you to not go on a date?" Luckily for Bellamy, Miller goes on before he has to respond to this. Unluckily, it's because Miller knows him really well. "Of course you want her to tell you that, and then confess her love or whatever. God, you're a fucking wreck, Blake."
"I know," he says, rubbing his face. "Trust me, I get that I'm the asshole here. I'll deal with it. It's cute, right? They've been best friends forever and they're gonna get married and have adorable kids. It's like a Hallmark movie. I'm excited for them."
"You're pathetic."
"That too, yeah." He rubs his face. "It's fine. She wasn't going to go for me anyway."
"Christ, can't you go to your sister with this stuff? I don't want to be the one who deals with this."
"My sister lives with her."
Miller sighs, like Bellamy's friendship is a great burden. To be fair, it probably is. He wouldn't be friends with himself. "Look, I'm saying this once: we all assumed you and Clarke were gonna be a thing. Everyone thought that. So don't act like just because some other guy showed up you never had a chance or whatever. You probably still have a chance. So stop being a mopey asshole and ask her out like an adult."
He opens and closes his mouth a couple times, and then says, "Yeah, definitely only say that once. That was so fucking awkward. I can't take your genuine support."
Miller snorts and cuffs him. "She's gonna marry that Wells dude and have fifteen kids."
"Awesome, much better."
*
It takes her a month to call him out on acting weird, and when she does, he can't even be pissed at her for not noticing sooner, because she just thinks he was mad at her or Octavia. And, as Miller said, he was actually flat-out lying to her most of the time; whenever he didn't have a specific place he was going, she always told him to stay. And stupid fucking Wells did too, to add insult to injury. They both seem to genuinely want him to hang out with them, which sucks, because they're good company, except for all the flirting and his stupid jealousy.
The flirting really is the worst part, because--honestly, Bellamy had finally gotten around to thinking he and Clarke were going to be a thing himself. And he can't actually turn off the part of his brain that wants to believe that. He'll be hanging out with her and she'll grin at him or knock their shoulders together or flush a little when he smiles and it feels like--
And then Wells is there and she'll kiss him on the cheek or tease him about how ripped he is and Bellamy remembers, all at once, that he missed his chance.
It's a fucking shitty few months, honestly. He'd been sure he was in love with her before Wells showed up, and he can't just shut it off, even if he knows he should. He really is happy for her. They're a good couple.
And then he sees Raven and Wells on his way home from picking up takeout, Wells leaning down to press his mouth against Raven's, and honestly? He just loses all control of his common sense.
Part of it is just Wells, who has been hanging out, cheerfully ruining Bellamy's life for three months, and being hateable mostly because he's so unhateable. There is literally nothing wrong with him, except that Clarke likes him, and now it turns out he doesn't even have the good sense to like her back, which--Bellamy loves Raven. He does. She's amazing. But--this is going to break Clarke's heart, and that's not fucking okay, because he remembers Finn and how she was after that, and Raven should too.
If he'd actually continued with that line of thought, he would have realized earlier how stupid the whole thing was. But he also just really wants to fucking punch the kid, so he does.
It's really not as satisfying as he hoped it would be.
"What the fuck!" Raven demands.
"What the fuck you!" he says, which is really not his best response. "I can't believe you guys would do this to Clarke!"
Raven looks like she's about ready to fight him, but Wells shakes his head slightly, because--fuck him, seriously. Bellamy just caught him, if not cheating, then at least being a dick, and punched him, and he looks all calm and rational. It's not like Bellamy needs help feeling like an asshole, but god, does Wells Jaha make him feel like the biggest fucking asshole in the world, without even trying.
"What did we do to Clarke?" Wells asks, mild, even as he's cradling his face.
"You know how she feels about you!" Bellamy says. "And you went behind her back to--" Raven raises her eyebrows, and his brain finally registers that this is fucking idiotic. There is no fucking way. "You didn't go behind her back."
"Nope," says Raven. "She gave us her blessing."
He almost argues with her, tells her Clarke is just being polite and self-sacrificing, but Raven would never let her get away with that shit. Raven wouldn't do it unless she was sure. "Fuck," he says. "Fuck, I'm so sorry. I, uh--fuck."
"You're a dick," Raven says. "Who punches people, seriously? Are you ten?"
"Sorry," he tells Wells. "Did you guys get dinner? I can pay for your dinner. I can just give you some cash. Or, uh--fuck, seriously, I'm the world's biggest asshole."
"It's fine," Wells says, at the same time Raven says, "You really are," and then Raven punches him, which honestly makes him feel a lot better.
"Dinner was fifty bucks," she adds.
"I've just got forty-two on me," he says, once he's mostly recovered from the punch. Someone definitely taught Raven how to fight at some point in her life. He's going to have one hell of a black eye. "I'll buy you guys a round next time we go out?"
"You don't have to," Wells protests. "You were just looking out for Clarke. I get it."
"He knows better," Raven says.
"I do know better," he admits. He gives her half a smile. "Sorry I--you'd never do that, I'm dick for thinking you would."
"Yeah, you're a fucking mess lately," Raven says. "You should talk to her."
"I will," he assures her, but she must not believe him, because he's been home for less than twenty minutes when Clarke shows up in his room and shoves him onto his bed. Not so they can make out, like in about half of his fantasies, but she is inspecting his face and tending to his injury, so at least there's that.
"You're lucky she didn't break your nose," she murmurs, once she's gotten the story out of him. She's leaning in close enough that her hair is brushing against his face, and she feels possible, really possible, for the first time in three months.
"I know," he says. And then, heart in his throat, he adds, "You're not in love with Wells."
"No. I was going to tell you."
He can't look at her. "You don't have to keep me informed about who you're not in love with. I don't need an exhaustive list of people you don't want to date."
"It would be a lot easier if I just gave you a list of people I do want to date," she says, voice light. "It's so much shorter than the list of people I don't want to date."
"Yeah? How many people are on it?"
The kiss isn't a surprise, which feels kind of amazing all by itself. She leans in to press her mouth her mouth to his and he feels like things are finally slotting into place, like the world is right again. They should have been doing this for years.
The angle is awkward, but she's in his lap, warm and real and Clarke, and he strokes her thumb against his jaw. One of her hands comes up to his shoulder, like she's bracing herself, and he belatedly realizes she's still trying to take care of his eye, which--god, she's kissing him, who cares?
"Jesus Christ, fuck the stupid peas," he mutters, throws them away so he can really kiss her, the way he's always wanted to. Clarke settles into his lap like she belongs there, kisses him back like she's been wanting this for as long as he has, and everyone might be right, he really might be an idiot.
But she is kissing him, and his eye doesn't even hurt that much. So he's had worse nights, really.
*
"I'm surprised your sister didn't tell you," Clarke remarks. They've moved on from making out to snuggling and watching Netflix, which Bellamy would ordinarily consider a downgrade, but their legs are tangled together and Clarke's hand is under his shirt, warm on his stomach, and she already texted Octavia to say she was staying the night, so he's pretty sure he's going to get laid, and the girl he's in love with loves him back. Plus, his eye is still kind of fucked up and it's hard to ice it and make out at the same time. Netflix is probably a good idea until the swelling goes down.
"Tell me what?" he asks.
"She was there for Raven's whole Do you want to date Wells or can I do it and you keep pining away after Bellamy? thing. I thought maybe she'd tell you and save me the problem."
"You were pining?"
She cranes her neck back to squint at him. "Yeah, of course. You didn't get that?"
"It's just so stupid," he says, letting his head drop back against the wall with a soft laugh. "God. One of us should have noticed."
"Someone should have told me you all thought I was into Wells earlier! How was I supposed to know?"
"You were supposed to be into him," Bellamy teases, nudging his nose against her temple. "We all thought you already knew."
"Everyone thought I was into you first," she grumbles. "Do you guys think I'm fickle? Is that it?"
"I never said I thought you were into me. I assume everyone was was just watching the trainwreck and taking bets on whether or not we'd end up in some threesome arrangement. Everyone we know is an asshole."
"True." She laughs and snuggles closer. "Too bad he's dating Raven. We totally could have gotten that threesome thing working."
"Yeah, uh, I definitely just found out I'm the jealous type. That would not go well."
"You just found out? How do you just find that out? You're thirty."
He feels his cheeks heat up, but Clarke already knows most of the dumbass shit about him, so it feels pointless to try to make something else. "I've never needed to be jealous of anyone before," he admits. "It never came up."
"And you picked Wells. Wells, Bellamy."
"I would have been jealous of anybody," he admits. "It wasn't really about Wells."
"So, you're going to stop being a dick to him?"
"Absolutely."
"And you're going to eat me out now?"
He chokes a little, but she's grinning. "Is that where we are?" he asks, keeping his voice cool with an effort. It still doesn't really work, but at least he's trying.
"Unless you want to keep talking about your feelings."
He really does love her. "Fuck no," he says. "Absolutely not. Get naked."
Clarke grins. "That's more like it," she says, and it really, really is. This is exactly how it should be.