#texts: clarlencia.

[mutyler]

TEXT 📲 CLARLENCIA

CLARK: Are you down for some sort of vacation soon?

CLARK: It's so hot. I think we should go somewhere on the other side of the world, so we don't have to deal with this hot ass weather.

[oldmutyler]

TEXT 📲 CLARLENCIA

CLARK: What are you wearing?

CLARK: In my head, I'm picturing a cartoon character onesie.

[andiesmu-archive]

TEXT 📲 CLARLENCIA

LENCIA: I'm choosing not to read into the fact that I haven't heard from you since Valentine's Day.

[andiesmu-archive]

TEXT 📲 CLARLENCIA

LENCIA: I may or may not have just given myself a black eye.

[andiesmu-archive]

TEXT 📲 CLARLENCIA

LENCIA: What do you think about me quitting my job and just winning the lottery instead?

[andiesmu-archive]

SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON ➝ CLARLENCIA

WHO: Clark Berry, Valencia Cortez.

WHEN: 2/21, evening.

WHERE: Clark’s Apartment.

WHAT: Valencia goes to Clark for comfort after her run in with her ex.

NOTES: Mentions of abuse, Mentions of drugs, Mentions of violence.

VALENCIA

She wasn’t really sure what had made her text Clark tonight. Sure it wasn’t the first time that she’d shown up at someone’s house, bruised, bloody, a mess, but it was usually someone she had known for a longer amount of time. But for some reason it was Clark’s name that she clicked on in her phone when she was seeking shelter, looking for somewhere to feel safe. Lencia tried to smooth her hair down, but it was really no use, she knew it was a mess and nothing was going to fix it. Len sighed, ringing the doorbell of Clark’s apartment as she looked nervously over her shoulder, a bit of paranoia setting in around her which probably accounted for her shaking hands. She let out a breath of relief as the door opened, her face contorting as she tried not to cry at the sight of Clark, Len stood still, afraid to even enter the house. She was afraid of everything at the moment and didn’t know what to do. “Umm,” she finally hummed softly, looking down at her shoes rather than at him, and hand combing through her hair, tugging at it a bit which she was sure was just making it worse, but she needed something to do with her hands. “I’m really sorry to show up like this, I just was afraid to be alone, and I didn’t know where else to go,” she said, her voice cracking as tears threatened to burst out of her.

CLARK

Getting that text from Valencia in the middle of night had caught Clark off guard. It was his night off so at first, he assumed it was going to be a booty call text, which he was totally fine with, but he was surprised to see it wasn’t that. She had asked to come over though and he was not going to deny that. He sprung up when he heard his doorbell ring, making his way to his front door and swung it open to see her standing on the other side of it. She didn’t look good. “What the hell happened?” He spit out, shaking his head. He was fine with her decision to contact him, especially since she looked the way she did. He was becoming some sort of a hero for women going through terrible times lately and this seemed to fit that mold. “You don’t have to apologize to me. What happened?” He asked again, shepherding her inside of his house. He shut the door behind them and led her over to his couch, inviting her to sit down with him. “Len. Who did this to you?”

VALENCIA

She paused for a few seconds at the door, unsure if going into the apartment was a good idea or not. She didn’t know how she was going to hold herself together in front of Clark, and the last thing she wanted was to fall apart in front of him. Finally, she followed him into the apartment, keeping silent at his questions, she just didn’t know how to answer them. Len had no idea how to explain what had happened, and if she tried she’d probably end up looking bad and she didn’t want that either. Sitting on the couch, she placed herself a good foot away from him, her hands still shaking, but she grasped them in each other trying to hold them steady. She wanted to be close to him, to just melt into him and fall apart, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She kept her eyes down, looking away from him, “It’s no big deal, it’s just this guy that I used to-“ she stopped herself before saying a guy she used to date, and instead finished with “know.” Her head drooped low as she tried to shake the feeling away, the feeling of disappointment in herself that after two years here she was, falling apart on a friends couch because of some asshole. Before she could stop herself tears sprang out of her eyes, and Len was covering her face with her hands trying to stop them before the uncontrollable sobbing that came with crying began. “God, I’m such an idiot,” she gasped through her tears, wishing she could just rewind time now and just gone to her apartment alone.

CLARK

Clark was worried for Len. His heart was racing as he led her into his place, not exactly sure what to do. A part of him wanted to hear who had done this to her, so he could race off and go destroy the person. Another part of him just wanted to sit there with her and hold her. He was going to do whatever she wanted. He watched as she sat further down on the couch from him, frowning. He wanted to hug her, but he didn’t blame her for not wanting to feel closeness with anyone right now. He listened as she spoke, trying his best not to clench his jaw too tight from anger. “It is a big deal. Who is he?” Clark was pretty confident she wasn’t going to give him an exact name because it was pretty obvious what he was thinking. He wanted to find this guy and kill him. All he wanted to do was protect her. She didn’t deserve this. He moved down on the couch as she started crying, hesitating before he touched her. “If you want, you can lay down and put your head in my lap or something. It might help,” he offered, not wanting to pressure her into a hug or anything like that. Someone had just put their hands on her and hurt her. He wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to feel a touch from a many again. “I’m here for you, Len. Just tell me what you need.”

VALENCIA

The only reason she’d sat so far from him was because she didn’t want to fall apart, but now she was already crying and he had moved closer and she couldn’t resist it anymore. At his words, Len turned to him, burying her face against his chest as more tears burst forward, she brought her feet up in front of her bent to her own chest as she practically crumpled into him, feeling broken from the whole night. She stayed there for a few moments just trying to calm down, and was grateful that just being close to Clark seemed to help with that. She stopped shaking, at least, and while her tears were still coming, and her breath was still ragged, she felt like she could at least speak again. “He’s just a guy I used to date,” she finally spoke, answering his question as best she could, “We dated when I was like 19, I was waitressing then, and he was a pretty terrible boyfriend, but I guess I was a pretty terrible person then anyways,” she frowned, finally looking up at Clark, making eye contact with him for the first time since he’d opened the door to her. She didn’t want to, she didn’t want him to see her such a mess, but she couldn’t help herself. “He used to take all of my tips back then, he’d use them to buy drugs and stupid shit, and I just let him. He didn’t have a job, he just sold drugs, but he was pretty shitty at it since he used his own shit, so he always needed money.” 

She shrugged, the words were just tumbling out of her now, she didn’t have time to think if she even wanted to stop them, not thinking about how bad this whole situation made her look, about how Clark was a cop and probably wouldn’t even want to see her again after learning these things about her.(edited)“He got arrested and he needed bail money, but we didn’t have any money, certainly not $15,000, he would spend it all, so he set me up with,” she finally paused, shaking her head, deciding that maybe there was a limit to what she could say, “He set me up with this job, I guess, that would get me enough money for his bail, but I didn’t do it.” She looked back down now, fiddling with the rip in her shirt from when she’d fallen, and noticing small spots of blood on it from the scrape underneath.  “Anyways, I guess he’s out now, and I was just out with some friends and there he was,” she took a deep breath, as she felt more tears threatening to come now, but she just needed to get through this, she needed to get it all out so she wouldn’t have to talk about it again. “I left when I saw him, I didn’t think he’d seen me but then he was outside with me, and I was just getting in my car and he was right there behind me and he started screaming at me about how I owed him money, about how I’m shit and worthless and all this stuff, and I don’t care. I mean, I don’t care what he thinks of me, but I was just so scared, because he was so angry.”

If Clark didn’t ask her to leave after all of this, she would be shocked, she didn’t know why anyone halfway decent would want her around knowing any of the terrible things from her past. “He kept saying I owed him $30,000 now because of interest, I never even had the money in the first place, and I told him that, but then he just grabbed my hair and was tugging me away from the car, and it just all happened so fast, he’d hit me and I was on the ground, and then he had my purse,” she paused again, this time her tears won and she buried her face back against his chest, her body shaking again. “He wanted to see if I had any cash, but he saw my license, and now he knows where I live,” her voice broke as she said it, “I had one safe place, and now he knows where it is, and I just didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know where else to go, I’m so sorry.”

CLARK

Clark listened to her carefully, trying to soak in all of the information she was giving him. He wasn’t going to interject. He was just going to sit back and listen. The anger was boiling up inside of him, but there was nothing he could do about it if Len didn’t give him more information. He hated this. That some guy she used to date. A guy she obviously cared a lot about had done this to her. He didn’t know a lot about her past, but as he continued to listen closely he shook his head at the words coming out of her mouth. He was worried for her. His jaw clenched as he looked down at the girl crumpled against him. “Len,” he breathed out, shaking his head. He could see why she had been so nervous about telling him all of this. It was bad. It involved a lot of things he was morally and ethically against, but he really didn’t care about who she used to be or what she used to do. He was falling for the girl that was pressed up against him. And he wasn’t going to judge her for her past indiscretions. He hadn’t always been the most upstanding citizen himself. “Are you okay now?” He questioned, shaking his head. He rested his hand on her shoulder, patting it gently. “You made the right choice by coming here. You can stay as long as you want.” And he meant that. He didn’t want her going back to a place where she didn’t feel safe. “If you give me his name Len, I can get him picked up tonight.” His eyes glanced down at her to gauge her reaction. He had been down this road before with situations like this and victims were not always ready to give the name of their attacker, but he hoped she would see this could be for the best.

VALENCIA

She was surprised by the concern in his voice, expecting him to be angry with her, to want her to leave. The fact that he didn’t just made her cry harder, because she’d come here to feel safe, and the realization was hitting her that she was, in fact, feeling safe. It would have scared her any other time, but she needed it too badly to question it right now. She nodded when he asked if she was okay, though it probably seemed silly considering she was crying all over again, but she did feel a bit better. Len met his eyes again when he said she could stay, searching them for any sign that he was just saying it to be nice, that he didn’t really mean it, but she couldn’t find any, “Really?” She asked softly, biting her bottom lip, she’d normally object, but going home just didn’t feel like an option tonight. Her eyes widened at his words, pulling away from him slightly and shaking her head, “I-...No,” she said softly, “I didn’t come here because you’re a cop, I came here because-...because I just wanted to feel better.” She was suddenly afraid that he might think she was trying to pull a favor, and that wasn’t the case at all.

CLARK

Clark’s heart was hurting for Valencia. This didn’t have to happen for her and watching her breakdown caused water to swell in his own eyes. He shook his head, holding in whatever tears were going to fall. That was the last thing she needed. She came here for comfort, not to see him cry as well. He nodded his head at her question. There was no way he was going to let her go back to her place, especially if it was unsafe. He frowned at her reply, shaking his head right back at her. “I’m glad I could help you feel better, Len. But he can’t get away with this.” A small sigh escaped from his lips as he stared down at her, letting his words linger for a second. “I care about you. And I want you to be safe. Even if I wasn’t a cop, I would want this guy locked up. You’re not safe with him out there. Look what he did to you. I won’t let him do it again.” His words hung there as he let out another deep breath. It was the truth. Either he found him and arrested him or Clark was going to take matters into his own hands.

VALENCIA

Len knew that what Clark was saying was right, she knew that was what she should do, that she should listen to him, but she didn’t want to think about it anymore. Len would be much happier to pretend that the whole night had never even happened, though if she really wanted that, she should have just gone home, not come here. “It’s really not that big of a deal, I’ve been a lot worse off than this,” she probably shouldn’t have said that, but it was true, “I’m sure he was just trying to scare me, I’m probably overreacting, he just thought he’d have a little fun by freaking me out,” she muttered, though she wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. She looked back up at him when she heard the protective tone in his voice, and wondered why there were so many people in her life that she’d never been able to trust, but after knowing Clark for just a few weeks she found herself believing him when he said he wouldn’t let this happen again, found herself feeling safe curled up against him. Part of her wanted to agree, just to make him happy, have him have one of his cop buddies pick him up, just so he wouldn’t worry. “Okay,” She finally agreed, giving up and giving in to the feeling of safety, letting him handle the situation, take care of her. She pulled away from him slightly, reaching for her purse to pull her phone out and pulled his Facebook up so that Clark could see what he looked like, “His name is Josh Cole.” She said, frowning as she looked at the photo, unsure of where all of this would lead. “Is it okay if I take a shower?” She wanted to wash this whole night away, maybe that would let her stop thinking about it.

CLARK

She scared him. It scared him that she had been in situations like this before. It was the last thing he wanted for her. “You’re not overreacting,” Clark replied, shaking his head. She was bruised and bleeding. In his opinion, he thought she was under-reacting. It was a lot bigger deal than she was letting it be known as. This guy had attacked her. He watched as she pulled her phone out. He was content with the fact that he had convinced her to give him the guy’s information. He wasn’t going to deal with it himself. He wasn’t going to leave her alone. He pulled out his own phone and set a quick text to one of his coworkers with the guy’s name and a picture. “Okay. My buddy will let me know if he gets picked up,” he mumbled out, putting all of his attention back on her. He nodded his head at her request, pulling himself up from his spot on the couch to grab her a towel. He got one out of his linen closet and then brought it back over to her with a small smile. “Here you go,” he smiled, handing it off the her. “Bathroom is the second door on the right. I’ll get the bed made up for us while you’re in there. “ He leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to her a cheek as he sent her a small nervous smile.

VALENCIA

Len watched as he took his own phone out, afraid to ask what would happen if he was picked up, what that would even mean. Watching as he grabbed a towel and handed it to her, she stood from the couch. This whole night had been so unexpected, and somehow the most unexpected thing of it all was the sinking feeling she felt in her stomach when he said he'd make the bed up. It was a sweet thing to say, but it was the fact that even though she wouldn't really be alone, she'd be alone in the bathroom. It was absolutely ridiculous to her how just the idea of being in another room than him right now made her nervous. Len debated if she should say anything, and instead, she just nodded, starting to walk away from him. She made her way to the bathroom, her hand hovering over the doorknob to push it open before turning back to him, "I'm-..." She sighed, shaking her head, "I'm afraid to be alone." It wasn't fair to ask him to baby her, and she was normally so independent, so she really didn't understand it herself, but here she was, "Could you maybe come in with me? I mean, you don't have to shower with me or anything, if you don't want to. I'm not gonna force you to make out with me when I look like this, I promise." She tried to laugh, but it sounded hollow. "But maybe you could just talk to me while I'm in there if you don’t want to get in the actual shower?"

CLARK

Clark watched as she made her way towards the bathroom, still worried about her. What had just happened to her wasn’t the type of thing that just went away. He stared ahead as he paused, looking up at her once she started talking. He nodded his head as she spoke. It was all completely understandable. Usually he would have jumped at the chance to join her in the shower, but the last thing he wanted to do was take advantage of her feeling vulnerable by initiating sex with her. “Trust me. You would never have to force me to make out with you. You’re beautiful.” He breathed out, taking a few steps toward her. He reached out for the doorknob and swung open the door for her. “I’m right here with you, babe.” He made his way inside the bathroom and took a seat on his toilet. “I’ll be right here. The entire time. You won’t be alone.” He looked up at her for a moment, sending her a small smile.

VALENCIA

On any normal day, being this close to Clark, she’d probably already be halfway undressed, or at least hoping she would be soon, but this was different. She still wanted him close to her, but it wasn’t because he was hot, or because she wanted to get laid, it was because he really did make her feel safe. Maybe the realization that he made her feel that way, that she really did have such strong feelings for him, maybe it should have scared her, but instead it just felt like a relief to be able to finally accept it. Len smiled softly at him when he called her beautiful, she didn’t know what she looked like right now, but she was sure it wasn’t beautiful, but she was too relieved by everything else that was happening to care. “Thank you,” she whispered, finally making her way into the bathroom.