#one of the things that makes Becho work so well is how deeply they value their family

[doortotomorrow]

BELLAMY + ECHO - Waiting by the transport ship for the rest of their family, not budging an inch until they've made it to safety

[bellamygateoldblog]

best and worst relationships?

There’s a lot of varables to consider here, and I’m feeling sick and bored out of my mind, so i’m going the long way round. This is a nightmare to read on mobile, im so sorry.

‘Best’ and ‘Worst’ labels depend on a number of things:

— Story of the pairing

— General intrigue and how enjoyable their dynamic is to watch

— Chemistry of the two (or more) characters

— Presence (or lack of) valuable relationship qualities (is this relationship healthy according to the world it exists in?)

and the importance of each of those differs from person-to-person.

Note: Sticking to popular relationships. I’ve blocked names, but I’m also throwing it under a Read More because it’s long and negative. It’s largely anticlarke because she’s a terrifying character and her mere existence derails most of her dynamics. Ship and like whatever you like, I hate fandom gatekeeping. But you asked so let’s go.

There’s also no order to this. Welcome to chaos land.

Best ‘Best’ List: objectively good relationships

— Linctavia

— Marper 

— Spacekru

— David and Nate Miller

— Raven and Sinclair

Unconditional love, mutual respect and support, found family, would die (and live) for the other. I can’t find fault in them.

Memori

I had a bit more to say about this one because there’s something so highly romantic in two people abandoned by their clan, cast out, finding each other in a literal desert wasteland. Like they’re each other’s oasis. In meeting Emori, Murphy finally found acceptance after spending far too long alone, and being told he was worthless by people who’s approval meant something. And Emori having someone prepared to do whatever it takes to protect her and make her happy is everything I could’ve wanted for her. They’re so deeply in love.

Best List

Becho (pre-season six)

Your local enemies-to-lovers. partnership over co-dependency. Compromise. Affection and emotional support from both sides. Willing to throw themselves right into line-of-fire for the other. A cut ‘i love her’ scene which i’ve personally decided wasn’t cut. I LOVE THEM.

Arguments against:

- ‘killed’ Gina (moreso she aided her death) while acting on orders from her superiors

- ‘killed’ Octavia while acting on orders from her superiors

- killed Ilian/ attempted to help Roan win conclave over Octavia

- almost killed Clarke (season five)

- happened offscreen

Arguments to discredit previous arguments because I’m sick and tired of seeing them in the pro tags:

- Echo was Bellamy’s enemy through those first three listed events. Bellamy had no reason to expect loyalty or respect, or anything else from her. She was always looking out for her people just as Bellamy was his own. That was quite clear.

- In fact she actually tried to help Gina because she was important to Bellamy, apologised that she couldn’t and did save Bellamy’s life despite their enemy status.

- ‘killing’ Octavia was not in cold blood. It was actually an accident.

- This one is nonsense. She wanted to kill Clarke during season five “even though she’s important to Bellamy”…after she just left him to brutally die and held Echo and her family at gunpoint and threatened to kill them. Context matters.

- not a fan of the time jump either, but if you’re able to accept the Madi-Clarke relationship which also developed offscreen, you can deal with this one.

Hard to talk about this one without defending it. Echo deserves better than season six Bellamy, who would abandon her in order to chase a woman he knew for 6-ish months 6 years ago. I say it’s his loss.

Jonty

It was a beautiful relationship and then a beautiful breakdown of one. I really enjoyed their dynamic. About to get controversial and suggest Monty could’ve taken a different approach with Jasper. I’ve never committed genocide and had to learn to live with it while watching my best friend suffer from the decision, but I do have clinical depression and somewhat relate to Jasper. There was this scene, where in the background you see Jasper go to hug Monty goodbye and he avoids it. It was such a small but sad detail. I felt Monty wanted Jasper to deal with his grief in a certain way and got frustrated when he didn’t. Sometimes he could be insensitive and blaming, and i think had there been more communication their friendship could’ve been very healing for the both of them. I think we learn at one point Jasper actually thought Monty was “fine” and didn’t even realise or understand that Monty hurt too. Jasper had this tendancy to only consider his own feelings, and this put a rift between them. Tough love doesn’t work for everyone, and I think Monty’s sometimes cold approach held that rift in place. The simple fact that both sides are so easy to understand and empathise with, and that this gradual undoing of what was once an incredibly strong bond was inevitable, made watching it all wonderfully bittersweet.

Zaven

This was good, but it was so rushed it made me bitter towards them. While it was Raven being thrown with yet another random guy, this did strike me as much more meaningful than her fling with Wick and I think it would’ve been a lovely relationship had it been able to continue. I think this was that love Raven deserved. It’s a damn shame it was used as just another level of torture for her. I think if they had let it develop more naturally and not been so full-on so soon, and of course if the actor hadn’t opted to leave the show, this would’ve been up on my best ‘best’ list.

Dropping this here: being intelligent isn’t actually important when pairing Raven up. Fandom acts like she needs someone “on her level” or “at her speed” (shudders), someone to challenge her, which has always come across as very demeaning of characters with less intellectual capacity, as if they’re less than Raven because of this when they are absolutely not. This mentality also denies Raven of partners that can value her and treat her well just because they aren’t Stephan Hawking. A romance isn’t a competition or a class project. Shaw was good for her, not because of what his brain could do, but because of who he was.

Bellamy and Octavia

This bitch toxic, YEET. I adore it. I really do. It’s such an intriuging and complex dynamic. The poisonous nature of their relationship is neither of their own faults, they’re both a victim of their own circumstances and, in Octavia’s case, a lack of socialisation and, by extension, non-understanding of grey area is also intrinsicaly linked to it. They truely love one another, but aren’t learned in how to show this in healthy ways. Makes that back-and-forth an entertaining watch.

Main grievance:

Beating your brother bloody while he’s chained down and unable to defend himself against you is disturbing and inexcusable in any context, and whether or not you’re grieving is irrelevant.

Neutral List

C//exa

Placing this one here just because i don’t care about this relationship, but did like bits and pieces. I think this one ended before it even started. For me most of it’s appeal is in the gradual moulding of the dynamic and the many phases it went through. I did find intrigue in that journey. However the fact the show reminds me at least a few times a season that Lexa was the one has me digging my heels in. I hate being told what to think.

I don’t really remember it all that well so I don’t necessarily have strong opinions. I know some people do. At this point in the show I was growing more and more annoyed with Clarke, and eventually i went from liking Lexa to being indifferent to her, so a dynamic consisting of them both was the least interesting thing in the world to me by the time it started heating up.

I will say this is probably one of the only significant relationships Clarke has where she doesn’t ultimately have more power than the other half. There isn’t a mechanism there that allows one to use to do harm to the other to advantage themselves; Lexa is the commander, but Clarke is constantly pushing back and Lexa respects and listens to what she has to say. There is literally a shot of Clarke backing the most powerful person on the ground into a table. I think Clarke was a positive influence on Lexa, but during this time Clarke was slipping into worse and worse versions of herself.

Some thoughts:

I found it was innappropriate for Clarke, as a leader of her people who’s primary concern is supposed to be what’s best for them, to have become romantically involved with the commander of the people they hadn’t a stable relationship with, and who ultimately has the power to strip them of all freedoms. It’s so easy for those romantically and sexually charged feelings to cloud and confuse what are extremely important considerations to be made about the people back home. It wasn’t a very responsible relationship.

On the flipside of that, from this relationship Lexa was convinced to grow into peace. Which is quite obviously a positive affect. Though I found it was odd that Clarke, just a random teenage girl from space, would be (successfully) telling the commander how to manage her people when she herself was not at home overseeing the climate of her own. It just has some very weird implications.

Lexa’s betrayal at mount weather, actually a very silly and counter-productive decision, was what forced Clarke to lose her humanity in what was the most traumatic event of her entire life. The fact it was forgiven so easily was hard for me to get over.

M//rphamy

Season five was good for them. It seemed as if they’d grown, were much closer, more respectful, and more affectionate. Then season six happened, and Bellamy was back to treating Murphy like he was beneath everyone. He started again to talk about how therapeutic it would be to hurt him, as he has, physically, many times in the past. Just tearing open old wounds at this point. In season five he reminded Murphy he wasn’t worthless, that he did belong with the group, but in season six he went back on all that, and put Clarke ahead of him at every turn, and prioritied her feelings over his very real pain. They’ve had a complicated history of violence, usually coming from Bellamy’s more hot-headed side.

I put this here because it’s an immensely compelling dynamic. These characters work well together, there’s heaps of chemistry and allure in each of their interactions. It’s just an entertaining time whenever they share scenes. But despite that, I don’t know where I stand with them and I don’t know where they stand with each other as of season six.

Worst List

Be//arke

There is a mess of negative thoughts inspired by this relationship about proportionate to the amount it’s shoved in my face. Clarke is just no good for Bellamy. Is the concise way of putting it.

Here’s a list of some of them which I usually like to bury deep inside my head for sanity purposes:

Ignoring whether or not actions were for the people/the only option and focusing solely on how the relationship is affected by them regardless

- Clarke has a tendancy to view the most important person (pre-season five) in Bellamy’s life as necessary collateral damage. She has brought/almost brought harm to Octavia on multiple occasions, the two most notable being TonDC and the conclave. Both while being on the same side as Bellamy from a political standpoint, and both while his friend who he had reason to expect affirmation, consideration, and loyalty from. Clarke betrays those key values. This happens again in season five when Clarke’s Plan-A solution is to “take her out.”

( this is also what sets her apart from Echo, who was never in the position to make her own choices. Clarke has that agency and control that Echo’s superiors had, but never Echo. )

- and saying that, I think it’s incredibly hard for Clarke to maintain any meaningful relationships being in the position she’s in. How do you have friends when you have to always put them second?

- speaking of the conclave, Clarke held Bellamy at gunpoint in order to prevent him saving his sister’s life. She said she “didn’t pull the trigger” and that was that. All is forgiven. However she did pull the trigger in what was an attempt to scare him into submission so I really don’t even know what to say here. The writers kinda forgot?

- they aren’t equal. They haven’t been co-leaders since season one. He was demoted almost immediately to second-in-command beneath Clarke. Clarke is the leader, the literal head. She makes the choices while Bellamy gets her out of the trouble she usually gets herself into, risking himself and others in the process. It’s a racist trope. It’s the ‘white princess and her brown knight.’ She has agency and power and he’s her loyal soldier, subordinate. Inequality isn’t inherently a bad thing but this power imbalance between them is utilised in harmful ways.

- speaking of “the good knight by his queen’s side,” this comes across as codependency. Clarke relies on Bellamy’s support, validation and loyalty, while ‘the heart needs the head to tell it to beat.’ That’s paraphrased from season six, that’s an actual line in the show. Bellamy needs her to guide him, to “keep [him] centred,” that’s another line from the show. That’s still not enough? He literally tells us in season six that he needs her, and has needed her in the past if his psychosis episode is anything to go by. He has impeccably low self esteem and views himself less than. I mean if you need further convincing of they’re inequality, just look to their places on the ark which are quickly reinstated once it reaches the ground. Clarke is upper class, she’s later the daughter of the chancellor, she comes from a loving family, from one of (if not, the) more well-off stations, she’s educated and she has passions, but Bellamy? From the poorest ark station, raised by an emotionally abusive mother, a janitor, his whole motivation his entire life has been to love and protect Octavia. I think a lot of this devotion he has for her comes from a place of idolisation, of seeing something in her he wants for himself.

- now this ugly trope could also come from an absense of Octavia. The moment they get to the ground Octavia is on a journey of self-discovery. And eventually, she becomes her own protector, and she finds a home in Lincoln. So naturally Bellamy looks for the closest relationship he can find that resembles that old one. It’s Bellamy and Clarke. Now, instead of Octavia, he’s driven by and found purpose in protecting Clarke. In fact, the Clarke-Bellamy dynamic has so many similarities to the Octavia-Bellamy one I can absolutely see the sibling like quality to Be//arke.

- Clarke abandons Bellamy after mount weather. She leaves because she can’t bare the reminder of “what [she] did to get them here.” So she leaves and instead Bellamy is the one forced to see the faces of the 48 every day, reminding him of what he did to get them there. Clarke comes across as completely oblivious in this entire situation. Bellamy and Monty are both written using the word “we” to refer to the mount weather genocide, but Clarke? It’s “I” and “me” every time. It’s as if she truely believes she’s the only one suffering from it, she’s bearing it so they don’t have to, except that isn’t true at all and that fact is so painfully clear. Later she tells him she knew she could leave because the people had him, but who did Bellamy have? He dealt with that weight and that grief alone because the only other person who could possibly understand, the one who pulled the lever with him, ran away. After she had convinced him not to in season one. She then comes back informing him she’d been acting on behalf of her people in Polis, without the people’s own knowledge or consent, but i digress, and he’d just ruined everything. So much for co-leaders. And he blows up at her, and we see how badly this action hurt him.

- In season five she leaves him to die out of spite and took her daughter to the people he saved her from at the beginning of the season. It could’ve been avoided, but she decided to punish him. That’s all it was. Don’t give me none of that “I had to!!!” she screams in season six to mindspace!Octavia. Bellamy was forced into role of father at just 6 years old and has proved time and time again he was prepared to risk it all in order to protect his child, there was nobody more equipped to handle Madi than him and her yelling in his face that he couldn’t understand was perhaps the biggest betrayal of them all.

- In season five she tortured and almost murdered his entire family. After switching sides again at the end of the season, all this pain inflicted was meaningless. You can talk all you want at me about Clarke’s *reasons* but all she did was take the path of most destruction towards the same end-point. It was just unnecessary violence caused because she had this desperation to take the wheel.

- all of this works because the writing is always in Clarke’s favour. The show is framed in a way that makes Clarke sympathetic, emphasises how much causing others pain hurts her, and that means that she’s never held to any of these actions, she might get a stern talking to but she’s forgiven insanely easily and allowed to go on with no actual change.

Pr//ncess M//chanic

Unfortunately, from what i’ve gathered, there’s a lot of racism in this one just as there is in Be//arke. I mean the entire nature of the relationship relies on the elevation of Clarke and the narrative power to demote Raven to ‘second best’ and prop over and over again. Raven, a girl who works her ass off to make most of the victories in the show possible, actually spoke the words “she saved us again” after launching a pod from an exploding planet into space and fixing the ark while space walking. It’s mindblowing. Raven’s (and others’) successes are handed to Clarke on a silver platter and we’re just meant to eat that up and blindly accept that Clarke is our one true saviour. I’m not going into this because it makes me feel sick and Raven deserved better.

Unrelated thoughts:

I don’t see their relationship as friendly at all post-season two. I got the impression Raven actually didn’t like Clarke, but it was all very complicated.

I also think it’s terribly convinient Raven never found out the true nature of Clarke’s relationship with Lexa because I don’t believe she would’ve ever been okay about Clarke again if she had (if the writers were going for realistic).

Madi/Clarke/Abby

Clarke strapped a torture device around her daughter’s neck for means of control and activated it under the guise of protection and that isn’t okay in any world or any context. Madi is a little girl who is dependant on Clarke and Clarke betrayed that trust. Those shock collars were used on her early in the season, she experienced the torture herself and still used it on her child. A lot of Clarke’s more unfavourable and/or unhealthy behaviours and characteristic are also present in Abby, which leads me to believe those are a product of her upbringing. Like mother like daughter, Abby also electrocuted Raven. Abby and Clarke have this strange rival-like relationship and I find it particularly cold, maybe because they’re so similar.

Abby and Raven

Abby has physically harmed Raven more than once. Out of anger and spite, or out of desperation. People hurting each other on this show is pretty standard and while this isn’t as overwhelming a mistreatment compared to others, her hitting Raven while she was acting chancellor was a pretty gross abuse of power. Its a visual display, with Abby’s imposing figure looming over a sitting and emotionally vulnerable Raven. We’re supposed to view this, i think, as mother-daughter. Abby says very early season one that Raven reminds her of Clarke, but she’s never shown treating Clarke in the way she does Raven. I liked the relationship during season one. From then and with Abby’s slow descent into villainy, not so much.

Ontari and Murphy

*She raped him. Next.

Cl//phy

Clarke is a cause/reason, whether direct or indirect, of a huge chunk of Murphy’s suffering, all of which she’s never been held accountable for due to Murphy’s position as undesirable. I, along with Murphy, had to be told she cares about him in season six because her otherwise complete disregard for his life has been pretty apparent.

Notable mention:

Chaining up him and Emori like dogs and promising to sacrifice the woman he loves, against her will, for the greater good after he saved her life. He has to beg her, plead with her and her almighty god complex, and it’s all quite uncomfortable and eery. (She later draws a picture of this event in her sketchbook which is…kinda weird.) And, in true Clarke fashion, she refuses to accept responsibility for this action and hides behind the same old trend of gaslighting and screaming “i had to!!!” I can’t root for a friendship between these two no matter how fun their back-and-forth can be. Especially since I can’t recall a single time they’ve shared a nice moment. Oh, and here’s a post about why Clarke and Murphy will never bond over isolation and survival.

*The clashing of Ontari and Murphy’s personalities was hilarious and I enjoyed watching them on screen together.

[turntopage100]

Bellamy Overview

Let me place a disclaimer before I write this that Bellamy Blake is the most ignored lead I have ever seen. His arcs since season 4 (and even before) have revolved around someone else. Octavia, Clarke and Echo.

I don’t care which shipping fandom you are in or whether you like Bellamy or not because we can all agree that Bellamy has always made decisions based on what he believed was good for his people. First, I will address the culling in season one: Bellamy had no way of knowing that taking the radio from Raven would result in three hundred deaths. All he knew was that Octavia was “his people” and he wanted to be with her and protect her. What he did was wrong but unlike later seasons both Clarke and especially Raven called him out on his decision. Then in day trip we saw how guilty he felt and how he wanted to die for what he had done. He was never content nor guilt free. Ultimately, it was Clarke that helped him forgive himself. I will note that for those that say Bellamy caused the flares to be launched that burned grounder villages, we have seen how dangerous grounders are. In terms of war, they made the first attack by spearing Jasper and then hanging him up.

In season one, Bellamy’s arc went from shooting Jaha to protect Octavia to leading and caring about a group delinquents. This season showed his greatest on screen character change, Bellamy “whatever the hell we want” Blake changed to knowing Clarke had to close the drop ship door to protect his people “delinquents” Blake. His attitude with Octavia also changed where he stopped treating her like a child and recognized her growth.

Then in season 2, Bellamy spends the first five episodes fighting to find his people, Clarke and co. In episode 4, Bellamy chooses to save the girl hanging from the cliff rather than continue his search for the moment, effectively changing his narrative to not choosing which life is more valuable. Immediately, after reuniting with Clarke he thinks about Finn and Murphy and how he has to find them before Finn does something stupid. (At this point, I believe Bellamy has feelings for Clarke based off script and directing) Later on, Bellamy even fights to try to save Finn but it doesn’t work. A lot of Bellamy’s arc this season surrounds Clarke. Specifically, the key words and lines they have him say“he would do anything for her, it just makes sense”. But he truly gains his own arc and rights as a leader in the eyes of the adults through becoming the inside man in Mount Weather. Where he finally sees eye to eye with grounders (Echo) if only for a moment. In his eyes grounders finally become human. (Although, all of this development is erased through the season finale and season three). His arc comes full circle and joins with Clarke’s where they pull the lever choosing to save their people and condemning all others to death. In the end, Clarke makes the decision to bear the decision on her own leaving Bellamy, who is also struggling with his choices to bear it by himself as well. Clarke pulled away at a time when both of them needed each other, to a certain extent Bellamy is the bigger person because he chooses to face his decision rather than running.

In between season two and three, Clarke is still struggling over the genocide in Mount Weather. Bellamy is not shown struggling with it on screen like Clarke rather with the help of friends and mentors he is able to understand why he had to do it. A really big off screen development is Gina, she was to Bellamy what Lexa was to Clarke. (Even timeline wise Clarke was with Lexa for 2-3 moths and Gina and Bellamy we’re together for that long) She helped Bellamy bear the burden of his decision by making him know he can be loved again. (I wish we could have seen that on screen). Through this entire time Bellamy is still looking for Clarke especially after he hears of the bounty. The audience can tell he cares for her a lot. Only to have a grounder who he trusted, Echo, to betray him and while he fights to “save” Clarke the ice nations caused the death of the people he killed for and his girlfriend. Then, at the same time to see Clarke side with Lexa (who in his mind betrayed them) and have her turn him away again, and turn away from their people because unlike him she couldn’t face her choices.

The reverse happens between them. Clarke find help and love with Lexa while Bellamy loses himself with Pike and with the pain of his loss. He blames himself. Now he blames himself for mount weather and Gina and co. I don’t blame Bellamy for his decisions in season three because they didn’t come out of nowhere. Bellamy got lost in revenge that also fueled others who had lost loved ones to grounders. Yes what he did was stupid and horrible and he confronts those decisions later on in the season. Octavia doesn’t let him forget.

Both Bellamy and Clarke lose themselves in season three, Clarke to love and duty and Bellamy to pain and heartbreak. Bellamy’s arc ends with him once again becoming a knight (although in dented armor) with Clarke’s help and Clarke feeling the loss Bellamy felt but having her best friend there to keep her head straight. Ultimately, Bellamy’s biggest lost this season was his sister. Essentially, this arc shapes the next season and I don’t think his character changes much.

In season 4, Bellamy goes back to his roots and need to save others, the 100 included. In the end of the season, Bellamy chooses to fight for his sister and Kane and all those stuck above because he chooses to not value skaikru’s lives over others. This season reemphasizes that after season 3, Bellamy and Clarke’s need for each other and how they keep each other balanced. I think Bellamy’s stupid decision was saving the people in ice nation, it was the right thing to do but it condemned 400 hundred to death because the arc could no longer sustain everyone. Anyways, Bellamy continues to fight for what he deems right. He doesn’t have a big arc change except for thinking his sister died to her forgiving him and realizing how much he cared for Clarke. Also, at the end of season four he chooses to keep Echo from killing herself even though she killed the love of his life, skaikru, and tried to kill his sister (he thought she did for a time).

Season five is shit. Bellamy’s entire philosophy changes. Where he wasn’t willing to sacrifice Octavia at any age but was perfectly fine with letting Madi take on the curse of the Commanders. Even though they could have found another way. I don’t know which way but if there was one thing Clarke wouldn’t let happen is anything to Octavia because she knew how important she was to Bellamy. Clarke even stood up to Lexa about endangering Octavia. And for Bellamy to care more about his assasin girlfriend who can take of herself because she’s a badass than a young girl is ridiculous. He even tries to kill his sister to have Madi become commander and save his family. Here’s a hot idea pit Clarke and Octavia against each other stop trying with a child. Try the night blood again if you have to, we know now Clarke could have taken it. But let me set it straight Clarke wasn’t in the right mind either but that was her child and she was right to not want her to take on that curse.

I still don’t know what Bellamy’s arc was this season. There doesn’t seem to be one and any development is off screen. He spends some time caring deeply Echo and his so called family. Scheming with Clarke again and trying to kill his sister. I guess this is logically thinking Bellamy. ....If anyone can explain season five Bellamy to me please do.

Then, in season six we again don’t see an arc for Bellamy. instead he becomes a horrible boyfriend and sacrifices everything for Clarke. It’s like season five didn’t exist and Bellamy went back to himself. Interestingly enough in the Red Sun episode, Echo is called Bellamy’s dutiful spy verse Raven calling him Clarke’s knight. Except we saw that Clarke and Bellamy were a team but it seemed that Echo was at her best without him. I loved season six because it was both head and heart Bellamy but mostly heart when he lost Clarke. He was smart and strategic and honestly I liked that he didn’t forgive Octavia immediately because she didn’t deserve it but I loved the sibling moments we got later on.

OVERALL: Bellamy’s arcs were better and more focused earlier on when they didn’t just revolved around Clarke, Octavia, or Echo. I want to see him grow go from I have too many sins to count to I know what I’ve done and I’m willing to get better and do more than dwell on the past.

I want him on his own journey. But it seems like the beginning of next season he will be focused on Octavia then Echo/Clarke and end with him sitting. Hopefully he has a subplot, I love the idea of Bellarke but if the writers choose to not make them romantic, then have them go on a besties journey towards their own realizations on the past. Sort of like Octavia and Diyoza but more plot A and plot B and on the way get Clarke a hot boyfriend/girlfriend. Also, if becho is endgame they need to develop that more through flashbacks because Tasya doesn’t deserve all the hate she gets from the toxic side of the fandom,

If anyone tells me he will die I will cry he is so precious and doesn’t deserve that type of ending. He’s made mistakes but has learned from them. If you can forgive Clarke you can forgive Bellamy considering the two are similar.

[willexxmercer]

I Love You a Latte

So I participated in A Very Becho Valentines run by @echo--positivity this year, and got to write a fic for the lovely @pawprinterfanfic!  I really hope you love this modern AU, and Happy Valentines Day to all of Bechokru!

Fic is under the cut and I’ll upload it to AO3 at some point tomorrow.

Summary: Echo didn’t do Valentines Day… until she did.

Echo Mendes didn’t do Valentines Day.

“It’s just another damn day when the stores jack up the prices and men trip over themselves trying to prove that they’re a good enough partner,” she complained, doing her hair up in a ponytail.  Her foster brother sighed.

“Something you have said every year for the past 13 years,” Roan replied dryly, stepping onto his yoga mat.  Echo rolled her eyes and sank to the floor, settling herself in a meditative pose.

“Because it’s true.  Valentines Day sucks,” she said, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.  She could hear Roan settling in beside her.  Together, the pair went through their yoga routine. It was something they had started the tenth year she had been living with the Azgeda family, during her health craze phase, and they still did it together ten years later, two times a week.  Yoga was one of the few things that relaxed Echo, and she could tell it helped Roan too, especially since his mother passed away two years ago.  The pair were nearly inseparable, except when Roan was in a meeting.

In fact, most people upon meeting them usually assumed they were together.  Echo always laughed at that.  Her and Roan? Hardly likely.  He was her brother, and he always told things to her straight.

“You know, one of these days, E…” Roan murmured as they ended their session, “you are going to meet someone, and you’re finally going to see the value of this holiday.”

“Not likely,” Echo scoffed, turning off the meditative music that had been playing.  “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I see Valentines Day as anything other than what it is – a cash hog for big corporations.”  She rolled up her mat, glancing over at her brother.  “You have fun with Luna, though, mkay?”

Roan chuckled, rolling up his own mat.  “I will.  She’s letting me take her out for a candlelit dinner.  Never thought that would happen,” he said, storing his mat in the closet. Echo grinned.

“Wow, what a good boyfriend you are,” Echo teased him, storing her own mat away before stepping towards the door.  “See you.”

With that, she was gone, out of his apartment and across the street to her place.

= = = = =

Two months later, Echo met Bellamy Blake.  Or rather, re-met him.

While on a coffee run, her usual place was overcrowded so she asked around and found a hole-in-the-wall place around the corner.  Best coffee in town, apparently.  She didn’t care, as long as it was caffeinated.  Inside, there was a single barista behind the counter, standing at an espresso machine while a petite girl stood, waiting. There were no other customers in sight, so Echo was starting to doubt the ‘best place in town’ accolade that had been attached to the place.

“There you go,” the barista said, handing two cups over the counter to the girl.  She smiled and thanked him, a little too excitedly.

“The boys really need this.  Monty’s been up all night and Jasper’s going on maybe 36 hours of no sleep. I’m almost worried about them,” the customer chirped.  The barista laughed, and Echo arched an eyebrow.  He had a curly mop of brown hair on top of his head and a bit of a beard. He was also incredibly familiar to her.

“See you, Bell!” With that, the girl left the shop, the bell over the door jingling, and Echo was alone in the small sitting room with the barista.

“Hey there,” he said, his voice low and yet strangely inviting. There was an easy grin stretched across his face.  Echo nodded, offering a small smile in return.

“Hi.  Could I get… two coffees, black?” she said, stepping up to the counter.  The barista, Bell (a strange name), arched an eyebrow.

“Medium or dark roast?  Or we have vanilla flavoured today, too,” he said, shrugging a shoulder. “And what size?”

Echo blinked.  “Um. Whatever’s the most caffeinated, I guess.  And large,” she replied, digging into her tiny purse for some change.  The barista merely smiled and rang up her order, and she paid for it.

While she waited, he shocked her by speaking more.  “Haven’t seen you in here before.  I know most of the customers that come in here, but you’re a new face.”  Echo blinked again, shrugging.

“My usual place was packed, and someone recommended here. Good location, I guess.  Right by the college,” she replied.  The barista laughed.

“Yeah, we get a few college students in here.  Not too many people know about us, though.  You’re a student?” he asked, handing the two cups of coffee over to her.  Echo took them.

“Yeah.  Well, I go to Polis, uptown.  But my brother works around here, so… here I am,” she replied, glancing around.  “Which reminds me.  Tray?”

He nodded quickly, pulling one out from behind the counter. “Here,” he said, “sorry about that.” Echo nodded politely and turned to leave after placing both cups in the tray.  As she got to the door, she heard him speak again.  “Hey, what was your name again?”

She glanced over her shoulder at him.  “Echo,” she answered with an arched eyebrow.  The barista seemed to do a double take, but she couldn’t be sure.

“Bellamy,” he replied, quickly, before Echo stepped out onto the street with the two coffees, waving back at him over her shoulder.

She got ten paces down the street before it dawned on her, why he had looked so familiar, why he seemed to recognize her name.  She stopped short.

“Crap,” she muttered, nearly losing the tray of coffees as someone bumped into her from behind.  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” she said, more loudly, to the disgruntled pedestrian, “just go around me!”

= = = = =

“Wait… you’re telling me he tutored you?” Roan asked, from the other treadmill.  Echo groaned, pressing the button to increase the speed on hers.

“Yeah.  And it ended… badly.  It was right when there was that huge mess between Polis and Arcadia.  I just stopped going to his place,” she said, picking up her pace.

“And he definitely recognized you?”

Echo increased the speed again.  “Oh, yes.  Not sure… how he feels, though…”

After that, both fell silent as they finished their runs.

= = = = =

A month later, Echo found her coffee shop crowded again, so she once again sought out that tiny place. It had a strange name, The Dropship, but she figured there was some sort of reference in there.

There were no customers in the shop, just Bellamy behind the counter.  His back was to the door, and he was doing a weird sort of shuffling dance to the jazz music currently playing on the radio as he washed dishes.  Echo walked up to the counter and cleared her throat.

Bellamy turned around quickly, his hands still covered in soap suds.  “Sorry about that—oh, hey.  Echo, right?”

She nodded, glancing down at the counter for a moment. “That’s me.  You really do know your customers, huh?”

“Yeah, like I said, we don’t get too many people in here. And I’m good with remembering faces, too…” he trailed off, and Echo felt a pang of guilt.

“Is that your way of telling me—”

“That I know you’re that Polis student I was tutoring for a while until you stopped showing up?  Yeah.”

Echo bit the inside of her cheek.

“You really do have quite the memory.  That was what, three years ago?” she asked, arching an eyebrow and putting on a stoic face, one that Nia had taught her years ago.

“Two, actually.  But no hard feelings.  I get it was probably weird, trying to come to our side of town… but I would have appreciated some kind of note, or a message, or… something?” Bellamy said. The way he said it didn’t sound accusatory, but Echo still could tell he was hurt.

“Look… if I could make it up to you…” she started, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ears.

“There’s this thing.  At the college.  Kind of a fancy thing.  I could use a date,” he interrupted her.  Her other eyebrow joined its twin.  That was bold and unexpected.  But with the look on his face, she didn’t know how to say no.

“I… sure,” she replied, pulling out a small datebook from her purse, “when is it?”

He eagerly told her the date and time, and she wrote it down.

“And that was two large medium roasts, black, right?” he asked, when she glanced back up.

“Your memory scares me,” she replied dryly.  He laughed.

Damn.  His laugh was contagious.

= = = = =

“Zip me up, will you?”

“Look at my little sister, all dolled up for her date.”

“It’s not a date, it’s a… favour.”

“Right.  And I’m not a CEO of a credit union.”

“Shut up and zip me.”

= = = = =

She had to admit, it was a fun evening.  Echo learned that Bellamy was an Education student at Arcadia, and that he was going to be an English teacher.  It made sense, considering he had tutored her in English.  She in turn revealed to him that she was trying to get her diploma in Public Relations, and he nodded thoughtfully.  She also met a few of his friends, including the girl she had seen at the coffee shop that first day (“I’m Harper!  Second year student, Psychology”) and the two she had been buying coffee for (“That’s Monty and Jasper, they’re taking Chemistry”). There were a few others, including a blonde medical student, and an engineering student who had a lot of questions for her, but by far her most awkward conversation was with a first year Kinesiology student who happened to be Bellamy’s sister.  Echo maintained her composure throughout the evening, sipping at her drink from the open bar, until it seemed that most people had left.

“Thanks for coming,” Bellamy said, sidling up next to her. Echo turned, arching an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah.  It’s been fun, actually… although I’m not too sure your sister likes me.”

Bellamy shrugged.  “She’s like that with a lot of people.  She’ll warm up to you, though.  She’s actually dating a guy from Polis… do you know Lincoln Woods?”

Echo thought back, trying to remember if she had heard that name before.  “I’m not sure, but with a name like Woods he probably runs close to Lexa’s crowd,” she commented offhand, taking another sip of her drink.  Bellamy nodded thoughtfully.

“He does.  I think, at least,” he replied.  Echo glanced at him.

“So… what now?” she asked.  Bellamy glanced at her, a confused expression on his face.

“How do you mean?”

“I’ve been your fake date for the night, what happens next? Do we get coffee?  Do we go back to not contacting each other?” she elaborated.

Bellamy took a long time to respond.

= = = = =

“Well?  How was your date?”

“I’ll tell you next Wednesday, after the actual date.”

“Well, that’s new.”

“Shut up, Roan.”

= = = = =

Two months passed, and by that point Echo was pretty sure she had a boyfriend.  At least, she saw Bellamy three times a week, and he bought her flowers, and there might have been some hand holding involved.

Roan kept pestering her about meeting him, since she had met Bellamy’s friends, but for some reason Echo was holding off.  She wasn’t sure why, but it just didn’t feel like it was time.

She had plans to meet at his place for a movie, and arrived exactly on time, to a flustered Bellamy.

“Hey… you okay?” she asked as she stepped into the apartment, hanging up her coat.  Bellamy shook his head, closing the door behind her and locking it.

“I haven’t heard from O in a while,” he admitted.  Echo frowned.

“I’m sure everything’s fine,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.  “I have an in with Lexa’s crowd, and I haven’t heard anything on that end.  She’s a teenager, they do weird things when they’re in love.”

Bellamy didn’t seem convinced, but Echo slowly guided him to his sofa.  “Look, I’ll look into it.  She’s fine,” she soothed him, rubbing his shoulder in small circles.  They sat like that for a few minutes, him leaning into her touch.  Finally, he sighed.

“I was thinking… Troy tonight?” he asked.  Echo grinned.  They had been working their way through any and all movies that had something to do with Ancient Greece.  Apparently, Bellamy had a secret love.

“Sounds like a plan,” she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder.

They watched the movie with popcorn in a bowl on the coffee table in front of them, and by the end of it Echo was nearly in Bellamy’s lap. She glanced up at him and smiled a lazy smile.

“That was really good,” she murmured.

Later, she wouldn’t be sure who had moved first, but all of a sudden they were kissing each other.  It was soft, and relaxed, nothing like the kisses Echo had had before, but she liked it. Bellamy’s hand was in her hair, and she raised a hand to his cheek, smiling against his lips.

After that, there was a definite shift.  There was no doubt about it now.  Echo definitely had a boyfriend. Each of their dates ended with a kiss and she had even stayed the night at his place a couple of times.

= = = = =

“Your birthday is coming up.”

“Yeah, so?”

“You’re spending it with Bellamy, I’m guessing?”

“Actually, I thought it could be you, Luna, Bell, and me.”

= = = = =

Her birthday was in November.  When Bellamy arrived at her apartment, she ran to the door and greeted him with a kiss, and he held out a balloon with a small box attached to the end.

“Happy Birthday,” he said, beaming.  Echo flushed despite herself and turned around.

“Luna, this is Bellamy,” she announced, glancing at her brother.  The two men had finally met the previous month.  Luna rose from the sofa, walking over and extending a hand.

“It’s nice to finally meet you.  I’ve heard so much about you,” she said, offering a polite smile. Bellamy nodded, shaking her hand.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” he replied, giving a small nod to Roan.  Echo beamed and set the package down with the other two gifts.  Then she walked over to Bellamy and took his hand in both of hers, leaning against him.

Roan and Luna left rather early after dinner and seeing Echo open her presents.

= = = = =

Life continued as normal.  She spent her days at the office, kept her routines with Roan, and saw Bellamy.  At Christmas, Bellamy presented her with a tiny box wrapped in silver paper with a translucent ribbon tied around it, and she had opened it to find a simple teardrop pendent necklace with the letter E engraved on it.  She in turn gave him a collector’s edition of The Odyssey, which had taken her weeks to track down, as well as a mug that had “best teacher ever” written on it along with a cartoon drawing of an apple.

“I love it,” Bellamy had murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to Echo’s lips.  Echo had simply smiled, kissing him back before leaning her head on his shoulder.

“I love you,” she had said, before thinking about it. There had been a long pause, during which Echo had run several scenarios through her head, most of them ending with her walking out of his apartment, before Bellamy finally spoke.

“I love you too,” he had said, kissing the side of her head.

The flames in the fireplace had slowly died down as they curled up against each other, trying to be as close as they could.

= = = = =

“So, I’m… going to ask Luna to marry me on Valentine’s Day.”

“Bold choice.  Cliché, but I guess it’ll do.”

= = = = =

As February 14th approached, Echo grew hesitant.  Despite being happy in her relationship, she still wasn’t fond of Valentine’s Day.  It was just another day to her, and she kept trying to hint to Bellamy that she didn’t want to do anything out of the ordinary.  He seemed to be fine with that, although a conversation with Octavia at one of his college functions suggested otherwise.

“All I’m saying is that Bell’s a romantic guy.  He’s going to want to do something big, it’s just him,” the girl told her.  Echo frowned, shifting uncomfortably.

“I get that, but…” she trailed off.

“Look, I’m not telling you either way, but he’s my brother, and I want to see him happy, and doing big gestures is something that makes him happy,” Octavia said, shrugging.  Then she waved at someone over Echo’s shoulder.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta go.  Haven’t seen Miller in ages,” she said, walking briskly past Echo, leaving her standing in the middle of the hall, biting her lip.

She loved Bellamy, but thirteen years was a long time, and she wasn’t sure if she could unlearn her dislike for the holiday.

= = = = =

“Just talk to him.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“E.  Talk to him.”

“I’m leaving, now.”

“Echo!”

= = = = =

The big day arrived.  Echo woke up to a text message on her phone from Bellamy with several heart emojis and smiled despite herself.  She tapped out a response, adding some hearteye emojis of her own, then rose to prepare her morning protein smoothie.

While she was adding the protein powder, her phone vibrated again.  Echo glanced at it, only to see a message from Roan asking her to check some things at the office for him, since he was going to be busy all day with Luna.  She sighed, finishing her smoothie and grabbing a quick shower before getting dressed and heading out the door.

At the office, there was a note pinned to her computer, telling her that she needed to meet with someone in HR.  With a groan, Echo swept out of her office and down a flight of stairs.

Her meeting lasted all of fifteen minutes, and when she returned to her desk there were tiny cutout hearts all over it.  Echo arched an eyebrow.

“Ilian?” she asked, sticking her head out the door and looking over at the intern.  He glanced over at her.  “Did anyone come into my office?”

Ilian shook his head.  “Not that I saw.  But I did step away for some coffee…”

Echo sighed.  “Thanks,” she said, brushing aside the hearts and getting to work. She had a list of things she needed to do for Roan, and Bellamy was expecting her at 1pm for coffee.  It would be part one of their Valentines Day date, one she had acquiesced to after his famous puppy dog eyes.

At noon, she was just about finished with her list when someone knocked at her door.  “Are you Echo Mendes?” a man asked.  Echo nodded, arching an eyebrow once more.  “I’m supposed to deliver this.”  He handed over a small box.  Echo took it and looked inside.  There was a large cupcake with pink icing and a note pinned to the side of the box. She lifted the note and read it:

“Echo,

I know you didn’t want much for today, but I couldn’t resist.  This cupcake is sweet… just like you.

All my love,

Bellamy”

For the second time that day, she smiled despite herself and set the note aside, picking up the cupcake and nibbling on the frosting. It was delicious, she had to admit.

When it was time to head out for coffee, she left a memo with Ilian to call Ontari if there were any pressing concerns and headed towards the Dropship.  There, she nodded at Murphy, the other, more brazen barista.

“Oh, hey, Echo… Bellamy left this for you,” Murphy said, handing her a note.  Echo frowned, reading it.  Apparently, Bellamy wanted her to meet him at the library instead.  She shrugged, handing the note back to Murphy.

“Oh, and he said to give you this,” Murphy added, handing her a cup.  She sniffed at it.  Hazelnut. Her favourite flavour.  On the side of the cup, in Bellamy’s handwriting, was written “I love you a latte”.

“Dork,” Echo murmured, chuckling as she took a sip.

At the library, Emori the librarian gave her a funny smile and directed her to the back where there was a small table set up with a fake candle in the middle.  Bellamy was sitting there, a copy of The Odyssey in his hands, while a small pile of textbooks was sitting on the edge of the table.

“Oh, hey there,” Bellamy said, rising and setting down his book, “do you recognize this place?”

Echo frowned, glancing around.  Then it hit her.  Reference books to her left, atlases to her right.

“This is where we had our first tutoring session,” she breathed, her eyes falling back on Bellamy.  “How did you—”

“Amazing memory, remember?” he asked, tapping his temple.  Echo laughed, stepping forward and kissing him.

“The cupcake was delicious,” she murmured against his lips, “and the hearts were… thoughtful.”

Bellamy chuckled, low in his throat.  “I’m glad you liked them,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.

The pair spent the hour chatting in the back of the library, then Echo headed back to the office in a considerably better mood than she had been earlier.

On her desk when she returned was a box of chocolates, a vase with a bouquet of roses, and a bottle with a rolled up piece of paper inside.  Confused, she tipped out the paper and unrolled it.  She immediately blushed.

Bellamy had written out a list of no less than 50 reasons why he loved her.

Echo sat in her huge office chair, her legs drawn up to her chest, and read through every single line.  By the end, she wasn’t sure she could smile any more brightly.

= = = = =

That evening, she arrived at Bellamy’s apartment in a red cocktail dress and opened the door with the key he had given her on New Year’s.  The first thing she saw was a whole lot of rose petals.  The second thing she saw was Bellamy, dressed in a full suit and tie, smiling at her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said, extending his arms towards her.  Echo smiled, stepping forward into his embrace, kissing him.

“You really outdid yourself,” she murmured, tucking her head against his shoulder.  There was jazz music playing in the background, and she recognized it as the piece that had been playing in the coffee shop all those months before.  He swayed her back and forth, and they danced to the music.

“I know you said you didn’t want much, but… I really wanted to do this all for you.  It’s our first Valentines Day, and—”

“Bellamy,” Echo cut him off, pulling away and looking at him straight in the eyes.  He gave a noticeable gulp, and her heart went out to him.  “I loved every minute of it… and I love you,” she said, smiling at the twinkle that returned to his eyes, the twinkle she loved so much.  “I’ve never had someone to spend today with, but… you’ve made it so special.”

Bellamy leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, then backed away.  “I have one more thing for you,” he said, grabbing a small box from the coffee table.  Echo froze.  It looked awfully similar to a—

“Don’t worry, it’s not an engagement ring,” Bellamy assured her, holding it out, “even though I kind of… one day, definitely. But this is different.”

Echo opened the box, gasping at the simple silver band inside.  She lifted it out, admiring it from all angles.  Engraved underneath were her initials and Bellamy’s.

“Bell…” she breathed.  He smiled.

“It’s a promise.  One day, I want to make our vows in front of everyone.  But now… I want you to know that I am committed to you,” he said, his voice laced with emotion.  Echo blinked away a tear that rose to her eye.

“I love it,” she said, beaming at him. Bellamy smiled fondly, pulling her towards him and taking the ring from her.  He slipped it on her right hand’s ring finger, meeting her gaze, and kissed her deeply.

As she melted into the kiss, clutching to his lapels, Echo felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

Okay.

Maybe Echo Mendes did do Valentines Day.