#and ayyy finished this review within an hour of the show ending!!!

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Oop problems with treating Kalu like a peer!

Or rather yk not like a peer

Like smth vs lack of smth I mean

OPE o.o!!

A seizure 😬😬 :(

Aww she looks really upset :((

I mean that's an upsetting thing but yk still xD she looks upset lol

Ope?

Oope 😳😳

Yeah Kalu you're not in charge lol

Like yeah think outside the box but like xdd

Also, discuss things first lol

It was probably heat of the moment bc of like wanting to make them feel better but eh yk whatever

That's the tea 😳😳😬👀 o.o

That's the last of my last thoughts! Now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I loved this episode!! I thought it was really enjoyable :D. Obviously I missed the other characters lol, and this did focus a fair amount on Joni, but it is her introduction to be fair :)). I think it balanced it out pretty well :D. And it was super cool to see in general :)). Especially with how respectful Shaun was of her, even from the beginning - he gets it :). Also he's just a nice person lol. And the case, all the little things they fought with, was really interesting :DD!

Now, time for the individual parts :)).

Which will only be the people we saw today xD. And, of course, everyone else as one.

*Deep breath* XD

Jordan, Perez, Asher, Morgan, Andrews, Lim, and as usual Jerome! Oh, and Kalu now! I missed you all 😭😭🥰🥰. This episode was a fun change of pace :D, but I still miss my babeys :')). Morgan got a name drop though lol! Good for her xD. Anyway, yeah, I'm sure they're all doing great at their jobs xD, and I miss them :)). I love them all 🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️.

Lea! We didn't see much of her, but obviously I love how she supported Shaun :D. I also didn't think about people coming to court for them, but it was nice she and Glassman were there :)). Also her conversation with Shaun near the beginning was funny xD. Anyway, even just the little things, like things in the background (not technically in the background but like Shaun feeling her belly if I remember correctly while they were waiting for the jury's decision, and I think holding hands or at least walking together as they walked back in :)) ), they were adorable :'D :)) 🥰🥰. I'm sure Lea was good at her job also, today lol. Anyway! I love her 🥰🥰❤️.

Glassman! Even if he didn't believe in Joni (can't really blame him lol), I'm glad he tried to help Shaun :)). He immediately had him a lawyer and, to be fair, that helped Shaun find his lawyer! Lol xD. Again, it's nice he went to the trial as well :)), and I'm just glad he was there to support Shaun <33 🥰. Also, to give a little background on what's her face, the lawyer lady! Since they've known each other for so long :). We got little snippets of her life, and I thought it was interesting 👀. Plus, it provides two links between the series :D. Series plural lol. Anyway, I'm again sure he was great at his job lol. I love him 🥰❤️❤️.

Park! He was great this episode :D. He was there for Shaun, obviously, even if we didn't see it as much, but he also was good with testifying and all :). Or, well, yk, we didn't see the testifying in the trial, but we saw what he said lol. Also I just think it's adorable that him and Shaun were out for dinner 🥰. Like, they're friends your honor :DD!! Idk I just like it when people are friends 🥰🥰. Especially bc The Good Doctor's found family is a little looser than my other shows lol. We don't get as many out of work or group scenes (or both, especially both xD) often, so I really enjoy it when we do, even if it's just talked about :D. And, Park was out celebrating with them at the end too :)). Anyway, he was great at his job :D (which we did actually see this episode lol, unlike many of the others XD, even if it was technically in him being a Good Samaritan lol) 🥰🥰. I love him <33 ❤️.

Janet! I figured I would include her :). She was a bit harsh, but I don't think she was necessarily unkind :)). Not too much anyway. But she helped Joni when she needed it and she gave her a chance (even if she needed a nudge to do it lol) :DD. I loved her <3 :). And sure, I say that, but it doesn't really carry as much weight as with characters we've had for a while lol. Still, I'll say it :)). She was great at her job, too :)). But yeah, I'm glad she saw a bit more what Joni can do 🥰🥰. I definitely think it would be (when looking up her character's name I saw that it's like a potential spin off and I was like "oh yeahhh" lol) an interesting show :D.

Shaun! He was great this episode :D. I really loved how he respected Joni and her boundaries from the start 🥰🥰. Like I said earlier, he gets it :DD. And he's just kind :). Obviously, he was great at his job this episode (thank goodness lol), even if it was as a Good Samaritan :)), and though he made mistakes and admitted that, they weren't relevant :)). Also for some reason when he was walking down the hall in the beginning after the bathroom is as just like AAHHHH 🥰🥰🥰🥰 WEDDING RING!!!! Idk it just hits me sometimes :'D. Anyway, while we're on the topic, he and Lea were adorable <333. And he and Glassman were good too :). And, again, I really liked the relationship between him and Joni :D. Mutual respect :))). I hope they can be friends :DD. Anyway, he was great this episode 🥰🥰❤️. And yeah, as said in the trial, he's just straight up a good person :'DD. I love him 🥰🥰🥰 <3.

Joni! Yep, she's last :)). Besides Lea and Glassman being interchangeable this one was ranked pretty directly in order of importance/my level of thoughts lol. Anyway! I love her :DD ❤️. I thought she was great! Obviously she has a lot of obstacles, but she also has a lot of skills and talents :)). And I mean, hey, similar to what Shaun said: we all have obstacles :). I really liked that we got to see a bit of her backstory and personal life, too, not just the case. It worked well as an episode still about Shaun, but also with her as a character being introduced, who would be a main character of the other show :). The main character! Anyway, I think it balanced well :DD. But yeah! She was so cool, and I think she's a really interesting character :)). She was great at her job too :DD 🥰. Of course, lol :)). But yeah, I think she's a really cool character and I'm interesting to see where she goes from here <333.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! I thought it was a cool crossover/almost crossover, and a good introduction for what will hopefully be the characters of The Good Lawyer :D. Or, two of them anyway. Maybe more of the people we saw a bit of, like the judge or the other lawyer, but eh :). Anyway, the case was really interesting this episode! I'm talking about the medical one, but yk, also the legal one! Legal wise, there were a bunch of small things that were really cool :). Like, to see, to watch unfold and play out :). I just really enjoyed it :D. And again, the change of pace was cool and refreshing (lol is this a water or skin product commercial xD) :)) 🥰. Plus, the interactions between characters were really cool. And for an example of a relationship with only these new characters, I really loved Joni's relationship with her sister :'DD. They're really sweet 🥰🥰. Too bad they're not girlfriends though lol. I'm joking, I'm joking XD. But anyway, they were super cool :). I thought this episode was amazing :DD ❤️❤️!

So yeah! I loved this episode, it was really cool and interesting. Next time looks dramatic! This has been my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 16: The Good Lawyer

I thought it was great! I'm interested to see how everything plays out next episode. I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 17: Second Chances and Past Regrets

See you then!

[mopeytropey]

Ayyy, thanks for the shoutout, friend! 

Seems like a perfect opportunity to let you all know that the new chapter is up on AO3 (and posted below). 

a beer buds series: chapter 9

author’s note: series rating changed from T to M (oops!) must be that Good Earth Cleavage making an appearance ... 

Link to AO3 here or below the cut:

Most Easy: Zero Gravity (Burlington, VT) 

:::

Timeline: takes place while Lexa + Lincoln are on business for Trikru in Vermont just prior to Clarke + Lexa’s first kiss

Beer: Most Easy SESSION IPA

A hoppy session beer bursting with Nelson, Citra, El Dorado, and Mosaic hops.

ABV 4.9%

:::

The drive north is stunning. It’s a part of the country Lexa has never seen, and she can’t help feeling like they’re driving through a regional postcard as the road carves through white capped mountains and unending pines. She and Lincoln talk sporadically, reviewing their individual tasks for their day in Vermont, while Lexa simultaneously attempts to use the landscape to calm her wandering thoughts as visions of nearly kissing Clarke at the delivery hatch continually haunt her. 

The local brewers with whom they meet are receptive and the meetings are consistently productive. She’s stretching her wings a bit, flexing some muscles she hasn’t used since her time at Columbia studying law. Lexa hopes to carve out a more defined role for herself within the Trikru family, and it feels good to push past her recent comforts of sales and distribution to really challenge herself. Negotiations are underway for what Lexa predicts will be an uncontested success for the expansion of Indra’s brand. All in all, Vermont is an overwhelming success, and Lexa settles into a seat at the bar at the end of their day feeling accomplished and proud of the work she and Lincoln have set in motion. 

“Turns out you’re a savage negotiator—you put on quite an impressive show during those meetings today, buddy.” 

Lincoln is watching her with unrestrained admiration while they wait on menus. Lexa looks away with a smile. They’ve wandered to the South End of Burlington to check out Zero Gravity’s taproom, which is sat beside a local pizza shop. Rearranging their schedule to meet with all the brewers in one day had been taxing, but Lexa is relieved to have finished with the prospect of heading home first thing in the morning. 

“It was a collaborative effort,” she demures, still feeling adrenaline coursing through her from their last meeting. The appointments with small, local brewers have spanned almost an entire day, culminating with their last and final pitch late in the evening. Lexa checks the time on her wrist to see the hour approaching 9pm.  

Even as the day wanes and exhaustion is due to set in, she’s almost entirely distracted by nerves. Despite her intuitive prowess out in the field, Lexa is focused far less on Trikru’s expanding business and brand at the moment. 

Her racing thoughts have but one destination: Clarke.

Clarke’s full lips and bright eyes and addictive laughter. Clarke’s fingers latched with her own and the sensation of Clarke’s arms sliding around her waist in a languid hug.  

The bartender arrives just as Lexa reaches for her phone to check her messages, hoping to see Clarke’s name on her screen. It’s been hours since their last contact, and Lexa is impatient with a need to reconnect. There’s a text from her dad about some big, winter storm making its way up the east coast, but nothing else. She tries to tamp down a surge of disappointment. 

They place an order for beer—sour ale for Lincoln and a session IPA for Lexa—before Lincoln returns to unabashedly singing her praises. 

“I can’t believe Indra’s had one of her most valuable assets lugging pony kegs for the past six months when you just commanded that room like a boss.” 

“Being sort of mindlessly productive through manual labor is exactly what I needed at the time.” 

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair,” Lincoln agrees. “It’s been quite a year for you.” 

“Yes, you definitely undersold the experience of moving up the coast to work for ‘an up-and-coming craft brewery with a ton of potential.’” 

Lincoln laughs easily. “Listen, I had pretty solid predictions about you getting on with the group of friends I’ve made up here—I did not anticipate you and Clarke ending up, well, ya know.” 

“Right,” Lexa fights a grin. “I didn’t really see that coming either.” 

“Not until at least your third week anyway.”

“Three weeks?” Lexa scoffs. “You’re full of shit.” 

“You’re right,” Lincoln contemplates while spinning his coaster against the bar top. “It might have been closer to two weeks, actually.” 

“Jackass.” She swats his arm with the back of her hand, knowing full well the exact moment her interest in Clarke went beyond an innocent friendship. Not that she would ever grant him the satisfaction of knowing just how accurate his predictions are. 

Lincoln is already laughing, even as he defends himself. “I’m sorry, but between you and Clarke, subtlety was not your forte.” 

“Whatever.” Lexa’s ineloquence is paired with her own laughter, further weakening her retort. “I know I should be really excited that things went so well for Indra today, but I can’t stop thinking about—” Lexa stops just shy of admitting how she’s been imagining every potential scenario of kissing Clarke for the past several days, and honestly, for much longer. 

“Clarke?” Lincoln smiles. 

“She’s really distracting.” 

“It’s nice to be distracted by someone. Do you have any idea how many times I walked into the metal shelving in the stockroom at Dockside all because Octavia had said hey to me?” 

Their laughter continues at Lincoln’s expense until Lexa releases a cleansing sigh. 

“Are you still feeling good about everything?” Lincoln asks, accepting his beer from the bartender while offering his thanks and taking his first sip. “Looked like things were going pretty well for you based on what I glanced at Dockside earlier.” 

Lexa’s breath stutters as she looks away with a blushing smile at Lincoln’s candor. He’d inadvertently played audience to what was almost her first kiss with Clarke some hours before, and her brain kindly replays the moment between them for the sixteenth time. Denial is instinctual. She wants to pretend Lincoln doesn’t have her number on this (and most things), but it’s been a long day and she no longer has the energy to be purposely obtuse.

“Honestly, the notion of kissing her for the first time is sort of driving me mad at this point.”

“Hold up—you haven’t even kissed her yet?” Lincoln’s outright laughter would be offensive if he weren’t also wrapping an arm around her shoulders affectionately. “Oh my god, Lex, no wonder you’re going mental.” 

“I’m trying to go slowly, okay? Because of where I’m at and navigating our friendship in the absence of Costia, we’re just taking things gradually. And, the pace of things has been … good.” Lexa swallows, running a hand through her hair in hopes it will release even a fraction of the tension she currently feels. “Clarke is great about everything, really great. She’s so intuitive and patient, I just—I don’t know if I’m capable of easing into this thing with her for much longer. I’m trying, because I think it’s the right thing to do, but I feel like being, I don’t know, impulsive. Does that make any sense?” 

“Okay, now I know you two have been spending too much time together—look at you: you’re rambling!” Lincoln is unmistakably delighted by Lexa’s current unraveling.

She finds solace in her beer, hiding another embarrassed smile against its frothy rim. “Be nice to me. I’ve never experienced something like this before.” 

“Oh really?” Lincoln goads sarcastically. “You’ve never made a friend and then accidentally fallen for them?” 

“I’m not—”

Lincoln stalls her rebuttal with a gentle hand to her forearm. “Not worth trying to deny it, pal. I’ve literally seen it with my own eyes. You are so far beyond the like stage when it comes to Clarke.” Lexa’s cheeks continue to burn, scorched with embarrassment at being called out, but Lincoln charges on like a freight train. “And, by the way, you’ve spent the better part of your adult years being cautious and measured—you should absolutely allow yourself some completely irresponsible and reckless decision-making.” 

Lexa chuckles into another sip of her beer. It’s really unfair that Lincoln knows her so well. There’s no use trying to argue with him. “Honestly, if I were on this trip alone, I’d probably get back in the truck and make the drive home tonight just to see her sooner.” 

“Yes!” Lincoln fist pumps. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Oh my god—let’s do that. We’re totally getting out of here!” 

Any previous laughter vanishes as Lexa shakes her head. “Lincoln, I was kidding.”

He’s already scanning for the bartender, pointedly trying to catch her eye to request the check, and even Lexa repeatedly smacking his bicep cannot deter him. 

“No, you weren’t, Lex. You’re deflecting because you think I don’t know what a huge, embarrassing romantic you are.” 

He manages to get the check even as Lexa continues to protest. “We just finished a gruelling day of meetings—I cannot ask you to turn around and drive three hours through the mountains at 9:00 at night. We wouldn’t even get home until midnight!” 

“You didn’t ask,” Lincoln counters. “I offered. And, we’re totally doing this.” He’s already thrown cash on the bar for their half-finished beers. 

Lincoln stands beside her, appearing for all intents and purposes ready to throw Lexa over his shoulder and carry her to the truck if she refuses to comply. She releases a heavy sigh and reaches for her coat and hat, defeated by his unwavering determination despite her reservations. 

They grab a pizza from the shop adjacent to share on the drive and are on the road in under twenty minutes with Lincoln beaming ridiculously behind the wheel. 

:::

At some point while driving through New Hampshire, the niggling doubt and unease Lexa felt as they left Burlington has amplified significantly. 

“This is a really dumb idea.” 

“What? No! This is epic!”

“Lincoln, I’m not going to just show up at her house again. It’ll be after midnight at this rate—I’m going to text her.” 

Lexa is already reaching for her phone as Lincoln stretches along the truck's wide bench seat to stop her. “No, no, no, come on. The element of surprise is so much better. It’s impulsive and stupid and perfect, and there is no way in hell that Clarke will be anything less than ecstatic to have you show up at her front door. No matter what time of night.” 

He makes a compelling argument, but even the mere notion of what he’s describing has Lexa’s palms aching with nerves. Her stomach churns at the implications of showing up at Clarke’s house—a woman she fully intends to kiss soundly and thoroughly, preferably the very second she lays eyes on her—because you don’t turn up on someone’s doorstep at this time of night expecting to leave until morning. 

“We should stop talking about this.” Lexa swallows roughly, exhaling her anxiety into the darkened cab of the truck while rubbing her palms against the material of her jeans. “Tell me something that will distract me from this asinine plan I let you talk me into.” 

Lincoln glances in her direction quickly with a laugh. “Okay, uh—” he drums his fingers against the steering wheel “—well, I asked Octavia if she wanted to get married.” 

“Very funny,” Lexa rolls her eyes, landing her gaze on Lincoln’s profile and immediately recognizing the authenticity in his words. “Oh my god, you’re serious. You’re serious?”

“What, you think I can do better?” His perfectly delivered sarcasm breaks the atmosphere and Lexa laughs. 

“Of course not. I’m just—wow. That’s—” she thinks about them together, how Lincoln has always been so soft and strong and kind; how his gentle temperament has melded with Octavia’s sharp confidence and strengthened them both, even in the short time she has witnessed them together “—that’s amazing, Linc.” Lexa smiles at him. “I’m incredibly happy for you.”     

“Thanks. That means a lot, buddy.”

“I assume she said yes?”

“After some cajoling,” Lincoln laughs. “O has never been psyched on marriage as a social construct, but I think she said something like: if I’m going to allow anyone to call me their wife, it would be you.” 

“A resounding acceptance of your offer.” 

“Totally!” 

More of Lincoln’s laughter fills up the quiet cab, and Lexa relaxes into the seat, feeling a kind of settled warmth at the turn of events for her friend—once abandoned and abused, surviving on scraps of fleeting comfort and security. But, Lincoln never gave in to defeat; he never let his anger entirely consume him. His adoptive mothers’ unwavering love helped to nurture the compassion that has always been innately Lincoln, and now Octavia has fortified his tender spirit. 

They drive in a comforting silence for many miles as Lexa traces the silhouettes of northern pines along the highway, willfully ignoring the text from Clarke in her pocket that reads: I hope your meetings went well. I can’t wait to see you.

:::

“I can’t do this.” 

Lexa sits in the driver’s seat with the door ajar as Lincoln stands beside her in his coat and gloves. The frigid nighttime temperatures are extinguishing all the heat they’d acquired in the cab of the truck over the past three hours, but Lexa hardly feels the chill. 

“Yes, you can,” Lincoln reiterates for at least the seventh time, smiling as he slips his hat over his shaved head. “Octavia said they just left the bar so Clarke probably isn’t home yet, and even if she is, she’s definitely not asleep.”

Lexa covers her face with her hands and suppresses a pathetic whimper. “This is a bad idea.”

“This is a great idea—stop doubting yourself and get over there!” 

“She’s going to think I’m an idiot for showing up like this.” 

“She already knows you’re an idiot,” Lincoln laughs. “Look: you’ll show up, she’ll finally kiss you, and then you two will very likely get up to a bunch of other stuff I don’t necessarily want to think about.” 

Lexa peeks out from behind her hands that still shade her eyes to meet Lincoln’s grinning face. “You are very much not helping.” 

“Get out of here!” Lincoln closes her into the truck with a resounding laugh and smacks the door for good measure. 

Without Lincoln's (rather abrasive but loving) support, she nearly abandons the plan at least a hundred times between the front door of his apartment where she’d left him and Clarke’s house on the harbor. The distance is no more than two miles but feels more like scaling a treacherous summit without a safety net. Her heart has never hammered so loudly as it does when the narrow, winding road along the water bends to bring the eccentric architecture of Clarke’s pale green house into view. Lexa can actually see Clarke exiting her car as the truck’s headlights illuminate the pebbled driveway and front walkway, and her breathing shudders painfully in her lungs. 

By the time Clarke has reached her front door, Lexa has very poorly maneuvered the truck onto the side of the road in front of Clarke’s house, slamming the gear into park before she blacks out from sheer panic. With nerves ricocheting through her entire body, palms sweating, and head buzzing, Lexa climbs out of the truck on unsteady legs. She can hardly hear herself making words over the cacophony of her heart beating in her ears, but then Clarke kisses her—

—and everything stills. 

Clarke kisses her a second time, and Lexa can feel a shifting in everything that binds her. A pleasant tilting of her previous existence. There is something deep within her that seems to right itself, and Lexa can finally breathe. 

As she fumbles for the doorknob while fighting to keep contact with Clarke’s mouth, her nerves cease to constrict her movements. She is freer and lighter than she has been in ages, pushing against Clarke until they are stumbling into the warmth of her dimly lit entryway. 

In the absence of her nerves, Lexa allows the reality of what they’re doing to filter into her consciousness. She is pressing her mouth to Clarke’s, feeling the soft give of her lips as they acquaint to sensations that Lexa has spent months longing for. She moves slowly with purpose, lips separating and reconnecting amid quick gasps of air—she intends to savor the nuances of this moment that she has waited so long to experience. 

But then some fraction of her nerves must still be present because the notion of Clarke’s mouth on hers, greedy and seeking, produces an ill-timed surge of laughter. 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Having found a whisper of her voice, she speaks the admission between the scant space of their mouths and her laughter settles. “I can’t believe I’m kissing you.” The raw honesty escapes her in a long held breath of relief. But, it’s more than that, too. An insufficient sentiment on how Lexa actually feels. 

Because Clarke is allowing for something to happen that Lexa has for so long wanted, as much as she is also allowing herself to finally give in to her impulses. Her disbelief feels more specific, and Lexa rephrases a breath later. “I can’t believe I finally get to kiss you.” 

The way that Clarke kisses her after that has Lexa’s head spinning and pulse thrumming. They are hastily removing heavy, winter coats and given more purchase for freely roaming hands. She feels Clarke’s tongue for the first time—hot, open-mouthed kisses and soft moans—and there are suddenly synapses of arousal firing that had fallen dormant for so long, Lexa forgot they ever existed. 

When Clarke asks for something slower, and softer, and measured, Lexa forgets her haste and leads them farther into the quiet house. There is a small lamp beside the sofa, gently illuminating the otherwise darkened room, so that as Clarke straddles across Lexa’s lap, she is cast in a warm, yellow light. Lexa can see the fatigue of a twelve-hour shift in Clarke’s eyes and in the loose waves of hair that frame her face, having escaped her messy bun. 

She is breathtaking. 

Staring up at Clarke in this way, hands sweating as her pulse resumes its elevated pace, Lexa remembers so much that came before. She recounts all the days and weeks she spent imagining this moment with Clarke—not just removing their physical barriers, but the authenticity that would allow for it to happen. She had not just anticipated the feel of Clarke’s lips or the way her body would react to experiencing the touch of Clarke’s hands, Lexa had also envisioned all the words they had carefully withheld, finally set free. 

“How long?” 

Clarke’s response seems to lag as her eyes flit across Lexa’s face. “How long?” 

Unable to soothe her nerves by adjusting the collar of her tee shirt, Lexa settles for the sensation of sliding her fingers between Clarke’s again and again. “How long have you been waiting?” 

It’s a question to which they both know the answer, but they have spent too long leaving things unsaid. Clarke smiles, and Lexa holds her breath. 

“For this?” Clarke’s weight settles more firmly against her, and Lexa thinks she may be having an out-of-body experience. The kisses that follow are somehow sweeter and more intense than any of those preceding. “Since the beginning.” 

She kisses Clarke with new intent. It’s everything she knew, everything Clarke had been silently telling her since that day on the docks—with the sun in her eyes, an inviting smile, and an offer Lexa was almost powerless to refuse. She knew what Clarke wanted and what she thought she couldn’t give her. But, to hear it out loud bolsters Lexa’s confidence as her hands grip surely to Clarke’s waist and her tongue explores the contours of Clarke’s mouth. 

Perhaps it is the heat and pressure of their new positioning, perhaps it’s the persistent and gentle suction of Clarke’s mouth against the skin of her neck, but Lexa nearly unveils all of her secrets in one, rushing breath of honesty.

“I wish we could have done this,” she says instead, a fraction of everything that threatens to escape her. “Before,” she clarifies. “Way before.” 

Lexa thinks about every time she allowed herself to imagine kissing Clarke, or experiencing this type of uninhibited closeness. In a million different scenarios, it was never this. 

This is so much better. 

Clarke is watching her now, a look of careful assessment and expectation, and Lexa nearly buckles under her gaze. 

“I wanted to.” A smile follows Lexa’s admission. The honesty feels like releasing a heavy stone at her core; she has become featherweight, and Lexa is glad for Clarke’s anchoring presence to keep her from floating away. “But, I’m glad we didn’t.” 

It’s not everything she needs to say, but it is enough for Clarke to echo, “Me too.” 

She suspects that they have been in this unspoken sync of desire for quite some time, shrouded in friendship but always there, simmering beneath the surface. No matter what happens from here—and Lexa futilely works to temper her wandering thoughts so as not to become completely overwhelmed—they are in this together. And, that is enough for now.  

:::

Waking up in Clarke’s bed for the first time ushers in fresh nerves as Lexa adjusts to her surroundings: the lighting, the bed covers, the sight of Clarke nearby. The sensation of lying naked in an unfamiliar bed with her best friend has Lexa’s stomach swooping as Clarke watches her slowly waking. Lexa’s eyes begin to trace the lines of Clarke’s shape, backlit by the rising sun, while vivid images resurface in a breath-taking rush. Lexa remembers all

of the things that have transpired between them in the past several hours—the touch and movement, the sounds and rhythm; the letting go. 

“Are you finally ready to be awake?” Clarke eventually says. 

Lexa can’t help the way her mouth curls into a smile as she thinks of all the ways in which they had kept themselves occupied long into the early morning hours. 

“What time is it?” she responds through a quiet yawn, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she rolls to face Clarke. 

“So late,” Clarke says with widening eyes, nevertheless smiling warmly. “I do not remember the last time I slept until after 11am.”

Despite her accelerated pulse, Lexa reaches a hand across the mattress so that the backs of her fingers can stroke across Clarke’s skin. There is brief talk of food and how to acquire it—Clarke’s perpetual hunger always circulating in their conversations at regular intervals. 

“No more leaving.” Clarke furrows her brow at Lexa’s suggestion to exit the house in search of food, nearly pouting, and Lexa laughs. 

Even the newness of this dynamic and the uncertainty Lexa feels coursing through her, isn’t enough to keep her from moving closer, a magnetic pull towards Clarke’s protruding lower lip. She kisses the warm patches of Clarke’s skin between her breasts and sternum and detects an accelerated heartbeat beneath her palm which has slipped around Clarke’s ribcage. 

“Keeping me hostage?” Lexa grins. 

It’s a thrill to consider the prospect of being kept by Clarke in any capacity; having her confirm her intentions a moment later has Lexa’s stomach fluttering. 

Clarke hums as an arm wraps around Lexa’s back, pulling her in closer so that her skin—already prickling in anticipation of the contact—is again pressing against Clarke’s. Lexa finds their mouths aligned, a breath apart. 

“Okay,” she softly responds and closes the distance between their lips. 

Less than eight hours separates their last kiss from this one, and yet Lexa has entirely underestimated the swell in her chest as full lips slide against her own, soft and warm and already searching. 

She thinks they might be attuned to each other’s movements even after a few short hours of exploration because as Lexa pulls back, purposefully shifting her leg that is notched between Clarke’s, she waits for the change in Clarke’s expression as her pupils dilate and her lips drop open by a breath. 

(Or perhaps, the serotonin addling her brain is more powerful than she realizes.)

“Didn’t you just say you were hungry?” 

“Did I?” Clarke smiles, wetting her lips when her gaze drops to Lexa’s mouth. Her hand skates down Lexa’s side and over the curve of her hip. 

It sounds flirtatious—the way most things do when Clarke says them—but also like she’s genuinely distracted, and Lexa decides to take full advantage of both scenarios at once. 

She kisses down Clarke’s neck while her hands retrace patterns that she had mapped the night before. There are soft swells and hard planes of Clarke’s body beneath her fingertips, and Lexa is still in disbelief that she is allowed to touch without restraint. She continues to tamp down a persistent flutter of uncertainty, finding encouragement in Clarke’s movements beneath her and the way her hands grip to Lexa’s hip bones. Still, her breath stutters in an exhale as her mouth hovers over Clarke’s breasts. 

Clarke reciprocates with an appreciative gasp as Lexa’s tongue rolls across a taut nipple. For all that she was drowsy with sleep a few minutes ago, Lexa’s pulse races at the sound. There’s no stopping her hips from falling into a slow-synced rhythm with Clarke’s, and within seconds, her hand is wedged between them and slipping into Clarke’s wet folds. 

She feels so good, and Lexa is instantly primed to tell Clarke just how amazing she is. How this morning and last night and every moment they’ve shared since Christmas has been so much more than Lexa had ever expected to have together. She feels as if her chest has burst open when she is this close to Clarke, and it puts her at risk of saying entirely too much, actually.

But then, Clarke threads her fingers into Lexa’s hair and groans, “Fuck, you feel so good.” 

It is indisputably the best way Lexa has woken up in ages.

She represses an urge to stumble over her own response and kisses Clarke instead. She wants to avoid some clumsy reiteration of how incredibly lucky she is that Clarke considered her worth the wait. Because there was no promise of them ever getting here, no guarantee that Lexa would wake up and make a change to her circumstances, but somehow Clarke knew. She trusted in their friendship and in their potential to be something even more, and for that Lexa is freer, and braver, and she wishes Clarke knew how much she—   

Lexa swallows her bold proclamation and swings a leg over Clarke’s hips instead, giving her hand more freedom to move as it slips lower to tease Clarke’s entrance. Clarke’s quiet whimpering is covered by Lexa’s open-mouthed kiss as two fingers press easily inside and Clarke’s legs fall open to thrust upwards against Lexa’s hand. There are still some things worth saying without words. 

Using her hips as leverage, Lexa pushes into Clarke as far as her fingers will take her, building an orgasm that has Clarke clawing at the muscles of her back and panting into their hungry kisses. 

Lexa wants to savor these new intimacies—this closeness and honesty that allows her to see Clarke’s hidden vulnerabilities and to share her own. A part of her wants to prolong these little discoveries of Clarke’s scents and sounds, the way her body shifts and pulls against Lexa’s movements. 

Of course, Clarke is a bit more directive when it comes to physical intimacy, as Lexa had always suspected she would be. 

When Lexa finds a quicker pace, working Clarke closer to release, Clarke tilts her pelvis upwards to chase the contact. 

“Don’t stop—oh my god, Lexa, I’m so close. Fuck.” 

It’s been all of eight minutes, but Lexa could very well do this with Clarke for eight hours without wanting to stop, or so her current state of arousal is telling her. 

She switches the pattern and pressure of her fingers, forcing Clarke to break their kiss as her body begins to go rigid and her breathing grows more strained. 

“Right there, oh my god.”

She has been attracted to Clarke’s voice for longer than she should admit, but hearing breathless words of encouragement in Clarke’s morning rasp makes any other iteration of her voice pale by comparison. 

Lexa hovers above her and watches her body flush with mounting pleasure. Even after a handful of times seeing Clarke come apart under her touch, this is already Lexa’s favorite part. Clarke’s enormous personality—that overt presence, brash humor, and unrestrained affection, which quickly drew Lexa in and kept her close—is quieted in the moments just before she is undone. It feels like a sacred breath of time in which Lexa gets to hold this small, vulnerable portion of Clarke, like she is allowing Lexa to see a careful reduction of herself. 

With her weight propped on one hand, Lexa watches Clarke’s head craned back into the pillow with eyes clenched tight. She can feel Clarke pulsating around her fingers as her hips ride out the waves of her orgasm. Lexa’s hips keep the same tempo while her lips leave gentle presses to Clarke’s neck and shoulder as if to say: I’m right here, I’ve got you. 

“Oh my god,” Clarke says again, exhaled in a release of held air against Lexa’s chest. She sounds calmer now, if not also out-of-breath, as the rhythm between them slows.

Lexa smiles down on her. “Good morning.”

“Yeah, I’ll say.”

Their combined laughter fills up the room, and Lexa rests her forehead against Clarke’s. She intends to seal these memories against forgetfulness, preserving small moments like this so that years from now, she will still remember the exact pitch of Clarke’s laughter and the soft slide of her fingers down the arch of her back. 

Once her laughter has died down, Lexa kisses Clarke’s smile. “I like your room.”

She is still half-draped across Clarke’s frame, naked limbs interspersed and hands slowly roaming across sleep-warm skin. 

“That’s good,” Clarke smirks. “I plan to keep you in it pretty often.”

She’s mesmerized by the shade of Clarke’s eyes against her linens and the way her hair, splayed against the pillow, has been illuminated by a late morning sun that bathes them from a stretch of windows along one wall. It is a very good room, made better by the fact that Clarke is presently lying beneath her. 

“I could likely be persuaded to spend more time here.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Clarke grins, kissing Lexa again before pulling away with marked intention. “But, honestly, if we don’t get some food in our systems in the next three minutes, I’m going to waste away, I swear to god.” 

Lexa sits up with laughter, reaching for Clarke’s hands to hoist her up as well so that they are no longer lying down but still sat just as closely. 

She squints one eye and purses her lips in thought as Clarke makes useless attempts to tame her hair. “When you say food, you actually just mean coffee, don’t you?” 

Lexa is delighted to hear Clarke concede almost immediately to her accusation. “Okay, yes, I’m dying for coffee, but also food. Look at these things.” Clarke gestures to her naked chest and Lexa laughs again. She considers admitting to Clarke that she has not stopped looking at them since they were first revealed some ten hours ago. “Do you think these miraculous tits occur naturally? No. They require nutritional upkeep. Regular sustenance. They prefer decadent brunches and gourmet sandwiches, but at this point, they will settle for whatever the hell is in my kitchen at the moment.” 

“Well, when you put it that way,” Lexa smirks. “I had no idea the stakes were so high.” 

“It’s incredibly serious business,” Clarke says, nevertheless grinning as she leans into another kiss. 

Mixed signals continue to fire as the kiss protracts and Clarke’s hands wander

towards the swell of Lexa’s ass. “Clarke—”

“Okay, yeah, you’re going to have to put clothes on, or we’re never getting out of this bed.” Clarke shakes her head, closing her eyes and playfully pushing Lexa away before crawling off of the mattress in search of clothes. 

She rifles through drawers and throws random articles of clothing in Lexa’s direction without really looking. Lexa catches one in the face while the other lands off the far end of the bed. 

“Thanks?” she laughs. 

“I have to pee.” Clarke stands with one hand on her hip and the other holding clothing for herself, and Lexa’s eyes practically glaze over because she doesn’t even know where to look. “And, I wasn’t really expecting, um, that to happen just now so please don’t think I’m not fully intending to give you, like, fourteen hundred orgasms in return today, I just really need food first.” 

“Clarke, it’s fine,” Lexa laughs. “I’m not keeping score or anything.”

It’s only a partial lie as Lexa registers the way her skin is still tingling and a dulled throb wanes between her legs from having seen, and heard, and felt Clarke’s orgasm. 

“I know, I know.” Clarke shakes her head, familiarly flustered. “But, I do plan to return the favor. Preferably multiple times.”

“Fourteen hundred, was it?” 

“Yes. At least,” Clarke smirks. “Now, please for the love of coffee, be dressed when I get back.” 

Lexa grins at Clarke’s figure as she rushes for the en suite with her own set of clothes. The tee shirt in her lap is soft and comforting as she runs the well-worn cotton between her fingertips. She slips it over her head after a moment and inhales the subtle fragrance of Clarke’s floral detergent. The sweatpants she then retrieves and slides long legs into before settling again on the edge of the mattress and running fingers through her unruly curls. 

For a few breaths, she is calm and still. She wants to anchor herself in this moment. There will never be another one quite like it. She and Clarke took their time getting here, and Lexa intends to saturate her memories with every detail as the day unfolds. At times, the waiting felt torturous, but the arrival to this place—Clarke’s room, Clarke’s bed, Clarke’s clothes, Clarke’s smile as she exits the bathroom, looking as if she hardly believes Lexa is sat there waiting for her—has been more than worth the wait. 

Have you read any great Clexa fics lately? Ang recommendations?

@kokkoro’s Spider-woman Lexa fic is amazing.

@mopeytropey’s Beer Buds series is also top notch.

If you check my Clexa fic recs tag, you’ll see stuff I’ve been hyped about recently. :)