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When Clarke invites Bellamy over for dinner with her and her roommate, it isn’t that Bellamy doesn’t want to, and it’s definitely not because her roommate scares him. It’s because well.
Lincoln is a big guy. Bellamy has a right to be intimidated.
Apparently he takes too long to respond because now Clarke is worrying her bottom lip, “I mean, you obviously don’t have to. I just think that it would be nice for you to meet him.”
He hates the worried crease between her brows, and hates it even more knowing that he was the cause of it.
That doesn’t mean he still won’t try to get out of this dinner, “I’ve met him before…”
Clarke must hear something in his voice, something like defeat because she smiles and leans into him a little more. “Yeah, but that was just in passing, Bellamy. You haven’t officially met him.”
He looks down on her, a little fonder than he would have liked. “You really want this, huh?”
Her smile widens at that, “Oh, yeah. I think it would be great! You and Lincoln will totally hit it off. I know it.”
He sighs, knowing he basically has no choice but to go at this point, and slouches further into his couch cushions.
“Fine, but you’re not cooking.”
She laughs, “Of course not. I’ll convince Lincoln to do it. He’s an amazing chef. I mean, he does own his own restaurant.”
Bellamy has it in his mind that he’s going to grumble and complain about the dinner the rest of the night, but Clarke is so happy that he finds it hard not to be smiling right along with her. Who knew smiling was this contagious?
&&
Lincoln knows something is up as soon as he gets home. Clarke is cleaning, which is basically a miracle in and of itself honestly. He stands in the doorway and watches as she vacuums the living room, even getting the far corner behind the TV stand. She finally notices him after he closes the door and starts to take off his coat.
“Should I be afraid?” He asks in lieu of greeting.
She huffs at that and crosses her arms, “Why do you say that?”
He waves his hands in front of him, “You’re cleaning.”
When she just continues to stare at him frowning, he lets out sigh. “Usually that means you’re up to something and you’re trying to soften the blow before you tell me.”
“I do not!”
He just stares at her until she sighs and drops her arms.
“Okay, maybe I do that.”
He waits a beat, but when she still doesn’t say anything else he moves towards the kitchen. Once he gets a beer out of the fridge he looks over his shoulder at her still standing by the vacuum, “So, what is it?”
“I want you to meet Bellamy.”
And, well, honestly Lincoln thought it was going to be much worse than that.
“I’ve already met him.”
She groans, obviously frustrated with his response. “You men are so exasperating! You’ve only said hi to him like, once. Twice at the most. You haven’t officially met him.” She glances at him, and he knows that look and he knows what’s coming next, “I told Bellamy we’re all having dinner together this Friday.”
He opens his beer, and studies her for a minute. “Care to tell me why this is so important to you?”
She smiles at that, already knowing he’ll do as she wants. Typical.
“Because,” She says as she makes her way to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, “You two are the most important men in my life – besides Wells but he’s in Ethiopia so him officially meeting Bellamy is a little difficult right now – and I need you two to get along.”
He refuses to hug her back. Instead he takes a sip of his beer, pointedly avoiding her gaze, “Who says we won’t get along?”
Clarke glares at him and tightens her hold, “You’ve scared off every other person I’ve brought over.”
He shrugs at that, clearly not bothered. “Finn was an entitled douchebag and you know how I felt about you and Lexa from the get-go.”
She finally lets him go, but only so she can poke him in the ribs, “Be nice to Bellamy. I mean it.”
He can all but see the wheels turning in her head, a smirk slowly growing on her lips, “If you’re nice to my boyfriend, I promise to introduce you to his sister. She’s gorgeous and totally your type.”
He scoffs, gently pushing her out of the way so he can go crash on the couch. “I’d rather not date your boyfriend’s sister, but thanks.”
But she’s still smirking, and he knows convincing her otherwise is already a lost cause. “You two are basically made for each other. You can take her to that rock-climbing place for a first date. She’ll love it.”
And, yeah. She’s far too gone for Lincoln to convince her to come back to her senses. He knows that look far too well by now.
&&
Raven thinks this is hilarious, and tells Clarke as much as soon as she hears her friend’s plans for a Lincoln and Bellamy dinner.
“Bellamy is going to shit himself, you know that?”
“He is not! Lincoln is as harmless as a teddy bear.”
They’re both sitting on the gym floor. Clarke pretending to do the exercising that her friend is doing to build strength back up in her leg. Doctor’s orders since she tore her ACL playing soccer a few months back.
“Yeah, but he looks as mean as a grizzly. Bellamy has a right to be scared.”
Clarke rolls her eyes. “I don’t know why everyone is so against this from happening.”
“I’m not against it,” Raven stops stretching and sits up straight. “I just know that Lincoln is going to be as intimidating as he possibly can and will try to give Bell The Talk. It’s going to be great. Please tell me I’m invited.”
“You’re definitely not invited.”
“Why the hell not?”
“You’re a fucking instigator, Reyes.”
And yeah, Raven can’t argue Clarke’s point.
&&
The night of the dinner, Lincoln watches Clarke flitter around nervously from room to room making sure everything is perfect.
“Why are you so nervous?” He asks when he glances over his shoulder to find Clarke biting her thumbnail and looking worriedly towards the door.
She doesn’t answer right away, just continues to stare at the door. Eventually she drops her hand and turns towards Lincoln. “I just want this to go smoothly. Bellamy…” She trails off and he can see a blush creeping up her pale neck. “Bell’s it for me, so I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
Lincoln softens at that, “Well, I for one promise to be on my best behavior.”
She seems to relax at that, “Thanks, Linc. I’m going to go get ready unless you need my help cooking?”
He laughs at that, “Definitely not. I would rather not poison the kid before I get a chance of interrogating him.”
Clarke shoots him a glare, “First off, you’re mean. I’m not that bad of a cook. Second, you’re not interrogating Bellamy, but thanks.”
&&
When Bellamy knocks on the door, he’s expecting Clarke to answer. Instead he’s greeting by Lincoln, and he’s momentarily caught off guard when Lincoln is smiling at him.
“Just in time. The food is almost ready.”
He swings the door open wider and ushers Bellamy in, “Don’t look so worried. Clarke made me swear not to interrogate you tonight.”
Bell smiles at that, “Yeah?”
“Yeah, she was worried I’d scare you off or something.”
Lincoln goes to the kitchen, and Bellamy slowly follows him. He’s still a little unnerved by Lincoln smiling at him, but it’s better than the opposite he supposes.
“It’ll take a lot more than you interrogating me to scare me off.” Bellamy says as he sets the bottle of wine on the counter. He doesn’t normally drink wine, but his little sister said it was the best in his budget, so he figured it would do for tonight.
Lincoln goes to set the dishes on the table, “And what, exactly, will scare you off?”
Bellamy knows where this is headed, and he’s almost relieved that the smiling, innocent Lincoln has been replaced with a more pensive and protective one.
He shrugs, “Not much, I’d imagine.”
Lincoln furrows his brows at that, “And what constitutes as much? Clarke’s been through a lot and—“
“I know what Clarke’s been through,” Bellamy interrupts, which probably wasn’t the best idea, but he’s not too concerned. “I’m not going to say that nothing can scare me off because I doubt I can think of every possible scenario. But, like, if the zombies were to come, I’d stick by her side until some zombie took me out.”
That seems to put Lincoln’s worries at ease. He’s not smiling like he was before, but he’s not frowning either.
“So, thoughts on basketball?”
Bellamy smiles, “Kentucky is obviously the best team, and the people who hate on Calipari are just jealous.”
This, however, does make Lincoln smile. “Did you see the Louisville game last night?”
“Of course I did. Clarke fell asleep, but…” He trails off, giving a helpless shrug.
Lincoln rolls his eyes, “I’ve tried a million times to get her into it, but she’s a hopeless cause.”
Clarke comes in then, going straight to Bellamy, reaching up to give him a quick peck on the lips before wrapping her arms around him.
“I should’ve known that the two of you would bond over sports.” She tries to sound annoyed, but the smile plastered on her face kind of ruins it.
“We could always fight it out in your honor if you’d like.” Bellamy says, sending Lincoln a smile.
Clarke groans, “Honestly, I don’t know which would be worse.”
&&
Later, when Clarke calls Raven to tell her how the dinner went, Raven is thoroughly disappointed.
“Really? They bonded over sports and that’s it?”
Clarkes laughs, “Well, I did overhear Bellamy say how he would stay around if the zombie apocalypse happened, so I think that appeased Lincoln.”
“You’re roommate and boyfriend are dorks.” Raven groans out.
“Yeah, but you’re friends with both of them so.”
“Obviously I need to expand my friend group. All of you are lame.”
“You love us.”
Clarke can almost feel Raven roll her eyes, “You’re all right, I suppose.”
“Love you too, Reyes.”
“Shut up, Griffin.”
Clarke just smiles, and tells her she’ll see her tomorrow before hanging up and going back to the living room to curl up between Lincoln and Bellamy. They were watching the Louisville Kentucky game again, but Clarke couldn’t find it in her to complain. She was content sitting between the two guys she cares about most, even if they were forcing her to watch sports.