#the avengers just think all these quirks are just part of the whole aesthetic

[moider-time]

Black Panther AU where T'Challa is sometimes possessed by Bast.

While the royal family always held a special connection to Bast, T'Chaka and Ramonda noticed early on how attuned T'Challa was to everything Bast.

He was focused in everything he did but when it came to things related to Bast or the mantle of the Black Panther, he would pay special attention. He would study the Heart-Shaped Herb, rituals to do with Bast and all that kinda stuff.

They're not really worried cause who wouldn't want the future King to be interested in their culture? Sure they have to stop him from trying to adopt every cat (especially black ones) he sees, even if he says " it's what Bast declares mother!" but everyone's kids are like that.

It's not until T'Challa is 12 years old and 2 year old Shuri (idk their canonical age difference so i'm gonna say it's 10-ish years) when she accidentally spills cold water on him and his eyes glow purple as he hisses, that they realize that maybe T'Challa isn't a normal child.

Ramonda: honey did you just hiss?

T'Challa: Bast doesn't like the cold :(

Ramonda: ....

Ramonda and T'Chaka try and keep it on the down low because while the Wakandan people worship Bast, they don't know how they'll take their prince being possessed by her. It's hard for them to do that when Bast takes over at any moment and T'Challa doesn't care about stopping her.

He'll be sneaking into the kitchen to grab extra snacks, see a cucumber and jump 6ft in the air. Head pats will always get him smiling and the smell of citrus makes him want to rip his nose off (mood).

15yr old W'Kabi and Nakia watching 14yr old T'Challa curl up on a brightly lit rock and start purring: hmmm something's weird abt him but i can't put my finger on it 🤔

She's like a comforting presence to T'Challa. She doesn't usually speak but feelings are transmitted so he understands anyway.

So T'Challa grows up hearing Bast's voice in his head and sometimes being possessed by her. She's like a weird aunt or older sister. To the Wakandans their Prince is weird but he's theirs so it's all cool.

[aconstantstateofbladerunner]

Class 1-A’s Comic Book Projects

I’ve been getting a lot of comments on Butterfly about how much people like the project the kids are working on.  First off, thank you for the lovely feedback! It started as an excuse to shoehorn in some themes and foreshadowing, while also giving the class something outside of the plot to talk about.  I didn’t think so many people would gravitate towards it.

With all that in mind, I decided to make some project headcanons for the whole class.  Relatively few of these will actually show up in the story, and the project itself will be mentioned less and less as it goes on.  All the more reason to put it here.

Here’s the link to the story itself for anyone who stumbles across this:  https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165612/chapters/40360787

The project is that the students had to pick out a pre-quirk comic book superhero, and write about how that hero relates to modern hero society.  They also had to pick a specific storyline to analyze, but I’m a filthy casual and won’t go into that.  Let’s go.

Midoriya - Superman

The only one actually relevant to the story.  Superman is like All Might, so naturally, Izuku would pick him.  Superman was also the first superhero as they are understood today, so there is also the meta perspective that they wouldn’t have their jobs without him.  But the thing about both of them is that their symbolic power is almost as effective as their physical power.  And with all that power, people too often forget that there’s a real person behind it.  A person who makes mistakes, who can’t alway save everyone, and who fears for their own future. Heroes are still human.

Bakugou - The Punisher

Isn’t Bakugou liking the Punisher basically canon?  But what Bakugou takes from him is perseverance.  Frank Castle fights an uphill battle that he can never truly win and could die from at any moment.  Yet he keeps going.  Because there’s nothing else he can do.  And that’s what heroes are supposed to do.

Todoroki - Firestorm

Firestorm is a guy who is two guys.  Todoroki feels like that sometimes.  But if he wants to accomplish his goals, he has to learn to work together with himself.  Not super relevant to broader hero society, but isn’t he a part of that society? (He had to argue a little on that one)  

Sero - Spider-Man 

Like most of his peers, Sero chose his hero based on the similar power set.  He spent admittedly too much time trying to recreate classic moves instead of analyzing Spidey’s place in history.  But then he realized that with how important the secret identity was to the character, not many people go for that anymore.  He ended up with a pretty deep look at hero regulation and how it’s hard to fit a secret identity with the current model.

Hagakure - The Invisible Woman (and the Fantastic Four)

Same initial deal as Sero, went for the similar power.  What she ended up discovering was that the Fantastic Four predicted close-knit hero teams would be rare.  Marvel’s first family is a disfuctional one, and probably wouldn’t last long with the added stress of modern hero bureaucracy.

Kouda - Aquaman

Insert obligatory talks to fish joke.  But Kouda did a fairly straightforward paper of how heroes protect the environment as well as people.

Yaoyorozu - Batman

She picked up Batman based on their similar need to be prepared; Yaoyorozu needs to memorize chemical formulas in advance, Batman needs to bring the right tools to a case.  But through her research, she found the much more interesting perspective of the dichotomy between hero and villain.  Anyone, powers or not, can make the choice to hurt another person.  And someone else can make the choice to stop them.  Both often involve violence.  So where should the line be drawn?

Tokoyami - Moon Knight

Moon Knight’s powers wax and wane with the cycle of his namesake, much as Tokoyami must carefully consider his actions based on the time of day.  Both must also contend with an additional voice telling them how to proceed.  Also, Moon Knight is Marvel’s answer to Batman and Yaoyoruzu beat him to it even though he called dibs this transgression will be avenged!

Iida - The Flash

The Flash is what Iida is working towards: a friendlier, funnier person that friend and stranger alike can open up to.  And shouldn’t all heroes want to be the sort of person the people they save would want to save them?

Mina - Wonder Woman

Something not as many people talk about in regards to Wonder Woman is the way she typically prefers to attempt nonviolent solutions to conflict before moving on to fists.  Mina is the same way, so she felt right at home (for once) while writing.

Kirishima - Luke Cage

A guy who’s skin is bulletproof?  So manly!  But Luke Cage and his stories have almost alway paralleled some real-world issue going on at the time.  In some cases, people believed his appearances to have helped influence public opinion about those issues.  Kirishima thinks more modern heroes should try and get involved like that,

Ojiro - Iron Fist

A quirk is just an extension of the body, and the body is the real weapon.  Both must be sharpened, not just one or the other.

Tsuyu - She-Hulk

Tsuyu doesn’t mind that people make assumptions about her based on her quirk; she’s a frog, so she’s easy-going and likes water.  But that doesn’t mean everyone is okay with stereotypes.  Jennifer Walters is a successful lawyer and hero, but still gets undermined by others for “anger issues.”  Tsuyu also admired her choice to remain in her She-Hulk form for the confidence it brings her, while many people in real life feel pressured to hide more extreme quirks in order to conform.

Aoyama - Dazzler

Searched “sparkly superhero” online and Dazzler was the first result.  Talked about the importance of aesthetics. 

Uraraka - Booster Gold

Like Uraraka, Booster started out in it for the money.  He didn’t have the noble goals she had right out the gate, but was never a bad dude.  But after great hardship, he learned the valuable lesson that fame and fortune should always be second to saving people.

Kaminari - Thor

He had a bit of trouble figuring out what to do with his go-to god of thunder.  Unlike the more well-known MCU version, comics Thor isn’t super funny.  He’s got stuff going on, but Kaminari was really gunning for that humor angle.  So, he settled for discussing Thor’s origin and about the importance of staying humble in the face of great power and influence.

Sato - Hulk

When powering up costs you your intelligence, it can be hard to make good decisions in tough situations.  That’s why you need to make a plan before going rage-mode.

Shoji - Martian Manhunter

Shoji connected to J’onn J’onzz and his struggle to find acceptance with “normal” people right away.  The traditional image of what a hero is “supposed” to look like was out of date even then, and no one should be confinted to that box.

Jirou - Black Canary

The best heroes are good at a lot of different things.  Black Canary’s Wikipedia page under “skills” is nuts.  And Jirou epimmediately started looking up how to incorporate her musical skills into her arsenal.

Mineta - Rogue

I know what you’re thinking: why would I give one of Marvel’s best female characters to me of Hero Aca’s worst?  Two reasons.  One, Rogue is consistently near the top of “hottest hero women” lists, so Mineta probably found her there.  Second, the ethos of her character’s evolution is a line I think he could benefit from.  That being: get your shit together.  You can accomplish amazing things if you just get your shit together.  Sometimes, you are the problem.  Adjust your actions and mindset accordingly.  Get your shit together.

Well, that was long.  Thanks for reading if you made it this far.  Part of me kind of wants to write some of these essays mayself now.  But I think that would be a poor choice of time given my other projects.

Thanks again and please read Buttferfly!

[adelesbian]

Amka was the newest Champion and that came with some degree of confusion. She didn’t quite understand all of their inside jokes or all of the other Champions’ quirks, but she loved how joyful they were, especially how Miles, Sam, and Kamala always seemed to be able to joke with each other. It was in a moment that Kamala was laughing at something Sam said that Amka realized how cute she was. It was like a switch was flipped inside of her and she couldn’t stop seeing how cute Kamala was. She found herself staring at her dreamily during mission briefings, when they were hanging out, and she would think of her all the time.

Amka was way too transparent about her feeling because within the first week of her crush Nadia poked her while she was staring at Kamala dreamily. She gestured for her to come with her so Amka followed after her embarrassed at getting caught. Nadia gently sat her down.

“You’ve got a crush on Ms. Marvel, don’t you?” she asked.

Amka covered her face with her hands. “Is it that obvious?” she asked.

Nadie touched her shoulder gently. “Yes, but I don’t think Kamala’s noticed,” she said.

“I’m hopeless,” Amka said.

“No, you aren’t! You’ve just got a crush,” Nadia said hugging her tightly. “If you want I can see if she likes you back.”

Amka looked up quickly uncovering her face. “No! Please don’t!” she exclaimed.

Nadia took Amka’s hands. “I won’t if you don’t want me to,” she said.

“Thank you, Nadia,” Amka said hugging her.

Naturally, Nadia was not the only one to notice that Amka had a crush on Kamala. Viv weighed in on the subject by telling her that it was statistically possible that Kamala could have feelings for her. Amka was comforted by Viv’s statistics if only that it showed that Viv cared. Amadeus gave her flirting tips which she had no intention of using because she was much too shy to make a fool of herself with the cheesy lines Amadeus told her to use. Riri did not offer much advice, but she listened to Amka talk about her crush. It was Miles and Sam who did the most for Amka, but whether or not it was helpful was up for debate. They were constantly inviting her to join them and Kamala then finding some excuse to disappear leaving Kamala and Amka alone.

During one such instance, Kamala leaned her chin on her knees. “You think they’re dating or something?” she asked.

Amka smiled sheepishly. “I’m not sure,” she said.

“They keep sneaking off together and acting like I don’t notice. I’m not blind,” Kamala said.

Amka blushed at the thought of how transparent she was. “It’s probably nothing,” she said quietly.

“I totally ship it anyway,” Kamala said rolling over so that her feet were on the back of the couch and her head was inches from Amka’s who was sitting on the floor.

“Yeah,” Amka said not quite knowing what she was saying as she stared into Kamala’s eyes. She had pretty eyes. Her whole face was pretty.

“You wanna play some video games?” Kamala asked slowly sliding down the chair and onto the floor next to Amka. Her feet stuck straight up.

Amka nodded her head completely enamored by how cute Kamala was. She never stood a chance against her feelings.

Amka held tightly to her pillow. “She’s so cute, and I just can’t work up the courage to ask her out,” she said burying her face into it.

“Why are you nervous at attempting to court Ms. Marvel?” Viv asked cocking her head.

Amka flopped back. “She's so cool and pretty, and I'm just me!” she said.

“Just you is still quite a lot,” Viv said, “You are kind and aesthetically pleasing. Ms. Marvel would be very fortunate to be courted by you.”

Amka smiled. “Thanks, Vivvy,” she said sitting up and hugging Viv.

“We should formulate a plan to for you to ask Ms. Marvel out,” Viv said.

“Okay,” Amka said drawing her legs closer to her body trying to hide the fact that she was nervous at the thought of even trying to ask Kamala out.

“Spider-Man and Nova are the closest to her so they will be key to setting you two up,” Viv said projecting a map of the base.

Amka's eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her skull. “How long have you been thinking about this?” she asked slacked jawed.

“The plan currently employed was made a few weeks when Amadeus said he, and I quote, ‘can't take Amka giving Ms. Marvel moon-eyes any longer. We've got to do something about this,’ then we formulated a plan to give advice and had you spend more time together,” Viv said.

Amka covered her face. “Is that why Amadeus gave me bad flirting advice?” she asked mortified at these developments.

Viv looked dissatisfied for a moment then said, “I request that he should wait until you were more confident in your friendship with Ms. Marvel, but he must have presumed to know better than me.”

“Wait, have you all been discussing how to get me and Ms. Marvel together as a group?” Amka said growing pale.

“Yes, we kept it to a whisper most times so there is a low chance that Ms. Marvel knows,” Viv said.

“You talked about it in front of her!?” Amka asked her voice going up a pitch.

“Very rarely,” Viv said.

“I’m gonna throw up,” Amka said shielding her face with her pillow.

“Are you ill?” Viv asked with some robotic concern for Amka.

“No! I’m just scared she knows and thinks I’m weird for getting everyone to help me ask her out!” Amka exclaimed.

They all had their jobs to pull off the perfect confession. Their plan was well oiled and long thought out. There were so many moving parts and a job for everyone. Amadeus was giving everyone a briefing on what they would do. It was excessively complicated. Amka sat in so that she would know the plan, but she was so nervous she felt faint. This was so excessive. They would all be so disappointed in her if Kamala said she didn't like her the same way…

Step one was Miles and Sam hanging out with her and Kamala to test the water. Sam was tired of all the time they spent trying to get Amka to ask Kamala out, and he thought the plan was stupid. Halfway through them hanging out Sam grew impatient.

“Amka you should ask her now,” he said ignoring their conversation.

Amka turned red and hid her face in her hands.

“Ask me what?” Kamala asked looking over at Amka trying to encourage Amka to speak up.

“It’s nothing,” Amka said her stomach was tight. Her face burned.

Miles grabbed onto Sam’s arm. “Can I talk with you alone?” he asked.

Kamala rested her cheek on her hand a smile playing at her lips. “Are you two dating?” she asked.

Sam turned red and let Miles drag him out of the room in stunned silence. “I don’t know if that answers my question or not,” Kamala said just as they left the room.

Miles dragged Sam into their room. “What were you thinking?! You know that Amka’s nervous about…”

“God, I do have a crush on you,” Sam interrupted him with his own personal epiphany. Miles wasn’t sure if he meant to say it out loud, but he stared opening and closing his mouth in stunned silence then finally Miles raised his mask slowly so that Sam could see his face.

“I, uh, like you too,” he said.

Sam’s eyes widened as if he got an answer he didn’t expect. He and Miles stared at each other for way longer than they meant to until Sam took the initiative and kissed Miles harder than he wanted to.

They'd only been kissing for a few seconds when Viv poked her head through the wall. “You are neglecting to do your part of the plan,” Viv said making no indication she was shocked by this development.

Miles pulled his mask down probably to cover up his embarrassment. He and Sam left their room. Sam pulled Viv to the side and put his hand on her shoulder. She stared at him waiting for him to form words and tell her what was on his mind.

“Can you, uh, not mention you saw that?” he said avoiding her eyes.

“I do not understand why you would be ashamed of me walking in on you kissing your boyfriend,” Viv said.

“We were not dating!” Sam exclaimed.

Miles looked over his shoulder at them. “We are now!”

Sam looked at Viv a goofy expression on his face. “I’ve got a boyfriend,” he whispered in disbelief.

“While I am thrilled for you two, we do have a mission to complete. By the end of this evening, Amka should also have a girlfriend, but that will not happen if we are not successful with our plan,” Viv said. Sam and Miles could have sworn there was irritation in her voice. They hurried off to get in position holding hands as they raced down the hall.

As Miles and Sam passed the room Amka and Kamala were in, Sam poked his head in and gave Amka a big thumbs up. They were watching a movie, and Kamala’s head was rested gently on Amka’s shoulder. He gestured for her put her arm around Kamala's waist, and she did slowly. Kamala shifted to be closer to her, and Amka looked content. Sam gave her another big thumbs up and rushed off with Miles.

“What did you want to ask me?” Kamala asked looking at Amka from her comfortable spot on her shoulder.

Amka bit her lip and looked away to avoid getting lost in Kamala's eyes. “It was nothing,” she said.

There was a loud warning siren that went off and Amka and Kamala were jolted up. They raced to the mission room to find the other Champions there staring at a screen. Amadeus was nowhere to be seen, but there was a villain on the screen that looked suspiciously like Amadeus in a gorilla costume with a cape.

“That’s a new villain,” Kamala said leaning on the wall looking amused. God she knew didn’t she?

“He is called Mastermind Excello,” Viv said, “We must stop him.”

Kamala nodded her head. “Where’s Amadeus?” she asked.

“He’s sick,” Riri said thinking faster than the others.

“What’s he doing that’s so evil that we have to deal with him?” Kamala asked a playful smiled on her lips.

“He… uh…” Sam started to say.

“He beat up the Avengers,” Miles exclaimed. These lies were starting to build up.

All of the others stared at him their eyes wide. Kamala looked like she was going to burst with laughter, but she contained it. “Okay, let’s go beat up Mastermind Excello,” Kamala said.

Amadeus smashed things in an abandoned building and tried to look as sinister as he could in the gorilla costume that they only gave him because it was the only costume in his size. He really should have de-hulked for this and used a force-field generator to protect him. He insisted on a cape at least to hide the zipper on the back.

The Champions showed up in the C.M.B. Amadeus was about to start monologuing when instead of waiting for him to start talking Kamala hit him in the face. All the other Champions winced excepted Sam who cheered. Amadeus got up and brushed off the monkey suit. It was an impressive hit. He was yards away from her and there was a long crater from where he ripped the earth. It was a good thing he treated the costume with a weak force field to prevent it from getting ripped. It didn’t stop the strength of the blow though.

“You’re strong, Ms. Marvel, but not strong enough!” Amadeus said imitating a bad English accent to mask his voice.

Kamala looked as if she might start crying from laughter, but she choked back tears to get back to fighting. All the others got ready to fight Amadeus, and he braced himself for the next blow.

“I am coming in, Amadeus,” Viv said into her microphone. All of them, except Kamala, had minuscule microphones and earpieces so that they could communicate with each other without Kamala knowing.

Amadeus caught her and tossed her as gently as he could. Miles came in and punched him, and he threw Miles as far as he could calculating where it would be best to toss him. Amka flew by so he tossed Miles in her direction and he bounced off of her and onto the ground lightly. Riri shot one of her repulser beams at Amadeus which bounced off his shielding because it was on the same frequency just for the “mission”. Nova flew in and knocked Amadeus off of his feet.

“Nova, just because Amadeus can take it does not mean you should hit him that hard,” Viv said.

“What are you talking about? When’s the next time I get to beat him up?” Nova said circling around and going in for another hit.

Kamala yanked on Amadeus’s cape to get him out of the way of Nova.

“Fuck.”

“Toss her then Amka catch her,” Viv said.

Amadeus reached around and grabbed Kamala then threw her. Amka flew by and caught Kamala bridal style. All the other Champions started ganging up on Amadeus. He clicked a button on his wrist.

“This won’t be the last you see of me!” Amadeus said as his personal teleporter made him disappear.

“Kiss her!” Sam said through their earpieces. His voice pounded in her ears like an echo.

Amka’s face turned bright red as she touched down on the ground.

“Thanks,” Kamala said hugging her tightly which only manage to make Amka more flustered.

“Any time,” was all Amka manage to squeak out.

Kamala smiled and grabbed Amka’s hand. “Another successful mission,” she said.

Later Amka and Kamala were finishing the movie they started. Amka was nodding off when Kamala sat up.

“You know, it would be a shame to waste all that effort the others put into setting us up,” she said.

Amka’s eyes snapped open and she stared at Kamala wide-eyed. “You knew?”

“Of course, I’m not blind,” Kamala said laughing.

“It freaked you out, didn’t it?” Amka said looking down at her hands.

“Are you kidding? It was like a fanfiction! Except I didn’t get my happy ending,” Kamala said drawing her legs up onto the couch.

Amka blushed and looked up. “Then do you want to go out with me?” she asked quietly.

Kamala smiled and draped her arms over Amka’s shoulder. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask,” she said.

Amka smiled bumped her forehead against Kamala’s. “I think I’m gonna cry,” she said.

“Wait, not before you kiss me,” Kamala said putting her hands behind Amka’s ears and leaning in to kiss her.

Amka pulled her microphone off of her wrist and threw it across the room after she heard cheers over her earpiece.

[zukoscomet]

My Equal in All Things

Short Bellarke wedding fic in very far future canonverse, because a Griffin-Blake wedding is my aesthetic.

“Dad?”

Bellamy looked up from the floor, squinting in the orange light of the setting sun, glaring down on them. Selene sat beside him, the train of her coat draped over the wall. 

This was the daughter Bellamy knew. Her dark hair woven into Grounder braids halfway along her scalp, before falling loose in soft waves down her back. The crescent tattoo around her left eye stood out like a rose in a patch of weeds, inky black against her golden skin. The deeper slices on her face had been stitched. The shallower ones had been left open to heal themselves. The paint was mostly gone, but Bellamy could still see the faint silhouettes of her war markings. He figured she could, too. She had showered and scrubbed a thousand times since she’d make it back home.

Bellamy raised an eyebrow as he waited for her question.

She folded her hands in her lap. “Why didn’t you and Mom ever get married?” she asked finally.

He thought for a moment, before turning his eyes to the remnants of Skaikru, hurrying about their daily lives. His answer was short. The truth, of course, but only a simple version. “It was never a priority.”

The young woman winced as she shifted her weight. When Bellamy had carried her into medbay, she’d looked more like a corpse than his child. Cut, torn, broken, and covered in mostly her own black blood. Bellamy had cried. He couldn’t help it. It was the epitome of everything that he’d fought to avoid. Clarke was stronger. She had to be. Aurora was dead. Jackson was MIA. Abby’s hands were shaking too much. It had taken her hours to mend the worst of her injuries. Selene’s shattered bones in her leg were bound in a cast from the femur to ankle. The stab wound above her pelvis had taken Clarke hours to stitch it up. It would take even longer for what was beneath the surface to mend.

There was nothing Clarke could do about the bruises.

Selene’s forehead crinkled as she frowned. “How was it not important to you? Marriage-”

“Means nothing.” He shook his head. “We were saving the world. And then suddenly, it didn’t need us to save it anymore. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We talked about it. We were going to do it. I got Abby’s permission. Kane agreed to officiate it. Then,” Bellamy trailed off. 

Selene quirked a dark eyebrow. “Then what?”

In this light, it was hard to tell, but Selene thought her father was blushing. “I got your mother pregnant.”

“Aurora was an accident?” She let out an airy chuckle. “Well, now it’s all coming out.”

Bellamy grinned at her over his shoulder, shaking his head. “You were the only one we planned, kid.”

“So Aurora ruined your wedding?”

Bellamy smirked as he took a swig of his bottle. “Yep. Once Aurora was around, getting married wasn’t exactly high up on our to-do list. Then when we had a bit more time, we wanted a sibling for her. Besides, it was already a marriage. Making it official wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

Father and daughter turned their eyes up. Perhaps fifty metres away stood Clarke Griffin, bouncing her baby son on her hip. Bellamy had always thought Clarke was beautiful, as had Selene, but age suited her especially well. She was nearly forty-two now. Her blonde hair was cropped just above her shoulders, ruffling gently in the summer breeze. It had taken on a sheen in the last few years, like spun silver. The stoniness of her young face had softened. This was the Clarke that Bellamy remembered before everything had happened, the woman she always had been on the inside.

“Do you know why I fought that trial? Why I became the Commander?” Selene asked abruptly.

Bellamy watched his partner as she debriefed the builders from their day of digging. “To avenge your sister. Protect your clan.”

“You’re right. I did it for Aurora. I did it because I wanted peace for Skaikru. I wanted to watch them die for what they did and I wanted to be the one to do it,” she said softly, keeping her eyes on her mother. “But I also did it for us. So Noah could grow up happy. So you and Mom could have time for the little things.”

Bellamy shifted his gaze to his eldest living child. His stomach was swirling, with what he couldn’t tell. “You think now is the time?”

“Like you said, it’s always been time,” Selene shrugged, a knowing smile curving her lips. “It’s up to you.”

When he’d been younger, when they were still fighting, Bellamy had stopped on more than one occasion to imagine his idyllic future. He hadn’t seen Aurora, Selene, or Noah. He had seen himself marrying Clarke. Fantasized about it, even. A meadow full of flowers on a beautiful summer’s day. Clarke in a white dress with her hair braided like it used to be, with all their friends gathered around happy and smiling.

It was never going to go down like that. Half the people in that vision were long dead. Jasper, Monroe, Lincoln, Sinclair, Maya, Fox, Wells, even his own mother. Octavia wouldn’t be there either. She was alive, but he didn’t know where.

At the end of the day, when his back was against the wall, the only person he had ever counted on was Clarke.

Bellamy set his jaw.

“Hand me that flower, kid.”

Selene turned to see a wildflower growing beside her from the Earth. It was a beautiful thing, a brilliant purple cornflower, the sunlight making the veins appear. It was almost a shame to pluck it. 

What Selene didn’t expect to happen next was for Bellamy to reach inside of his jacket. Selene heard the chink of metal before he revealed a silver chain. On it hung two rings. They were fairly plain, functional, just like they had been back on the Ark. 

“You were planning this all along?” Selene hissed, her eyes wide.

Bellamy shook his head, unfastening the chain to free the smaller of the rings. “I’ve had these since I was seven years old. They belonged to my grandparents. They died before I was born. My mother gave them to me. She said she wouldn’t need them but that I might someday.”

He checked that Clarke wasn’t watching then held the woman’s ring up to the sky, the one small gemstone glistening in the sun. “Since we canceled the wedding plans before, I’ve sort of kept them as a good luck charm.”

“You carried your wedding rings around with you for nearly twenty years for good luck?” Selene stared at her father incredulously. “I knew you were hung up on it.”

Bellamy gave her a mock scowl. “How can I be hung up on the mother of my own children?”

“I don’t know but evidently you’ve managed it pretty well.”

Selene sighed. Their hands brushed as she passed him the bloom. “Make it count.”

Bellamy smirked as slipped off of the wall. “I always do.”

He straightened his jacket when his boots touched the ground, cupping his hands over his mouth as he turned away from Selene.

“Clarke Griffin!”

His yell traveled the length of the camp, like the primal call of an animal. It sang to Clarke and beyond. People halted in their paths at the outburst. 

No matter how much he might protest, Bellamy Blake cut a strong figure in the camp. He had a lot going for him. Commander of the Guard, a Councilman, Clarke Griffin’s lover, virtual son-in-law of the Chancellor. Hell, there was even talk of him being Chancellor himself one day. Besides that, he had saved every single ass in Arkadia a few times over. He was their hero and he commanded their respect as such. Their admiration was a bonus.

They all stumbled out of the way as Bellamy marched past at a blinding pace. Clarke stood stock still at the gate as even the builders backed away to form a semi-circle around her. It seemed that it was only Noah that wasn’t frozen, squealing excitedly and reaching out his arms as his father approached.

The moment when Bellamy reached them seemed to be almost surreal to Selene, a second paused in time, as everyone watched and waited with stomachs clenched in anticipation. 

It loosened when Bellamy slowly sunk to his knees in the mud before her, like a gasp of fresh air after drowning. Clarke’s eyes were misty, from both disbelief and what looked like unshed tears. As if she could barely believe what she was seeing. She didn’t even seem to notice when Raven quietly took Noah from her arms.

“Clarke,” Bellamy swallowed, holding the flower up to her and the ring in his palm like an offering. “I would start by telling you how long I’ve loved you, but I don’t know when I started. All I can say is that when you turned your back on me after Mount Weather, that was it. That was when I knew that I was in love with you, that the only place I wanted to be was by your side. Just you and me, screw everyone else. I got that. I got to be your partner, your best friend, the father of your son and your two beautiful daughters.”

He struggled to continue as he swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect Aurora for you. That was my job and I failed.”

“Bellamy-”

Selene could not tear her eyes away, even when Kane came to help her down from the wall. 

“We have spent our whole lives sacrificing our own desires to be the leaders. It’s who we are. I know that. It’s never going to change, but if my life were to end tomorrow, I would want to die knowing that you were mine.”

For once in her life, Clarke had the right words to say as Selene heard her mother whisper. “I am. I am yours.”

Bellamy took a deep breath in and summoned every last dredge of courage. “Then marry me. Right now. No more waiting around.”

Every member of the gathered crowd seemed to be holding their breaths again. The question of a Bellamy and Clarke wedding had been a subject long bandied about and much wanted like a public holiday. The possibility had faded as the years went on but never died. The anticipation had always been there.

With Kane as her crutch, Selene limped through the crowd who parted for her like Moses’ Red Sea. 

“I promised over eighteen years ago that I would officiate your marriage,” Kane shared a hopeful look with Selene. “You’ll find no shortage of witnesses here.”

Raven smiled as Noah cooed at her, tugging the end of her ponytail roughly. “All you gotta do is tell the poor man yes, Griffin.”

Still folded on the ground, the sudden rush of adrenaline was wearing off for Bellamy. A nervous edge was creeping into his eyes, not daring to look at anyone except Clarke.

Clarke was fixated on him, too, staring straight into his dark irises. 

She said yes. As if she were ever going to say anything else.

They were married for the setting of the sun. On the paper, Bellamy signed his name Bellamy Griffin-Blake. Clarke did the same. 

Bellamy was right. It didn’t really make much difference. The family name Griffin-Blake had always been their custom, the one that their children had gone by without question. In the way that Clarke was a part of Bellamy and he was a part of her.

It did, however, give Skaikru an excuse to celebrate. Even in their peacetime, they still struggled to find occasions worthy of revelry. Revelry was a good word for what happened that night. They drank far too much and danced both slow and fast. Friends, old and new, sat down and swapped stories. The children played. They laughed, every single one of them. Selene wished her sister was there to see it.

Bellamy and Clarke slunk off at some time past midnight, hand-in-hand as they disappeared into the night. She and Noah would sleep somewhere else tonight, perhaps with Abby and Marcus. Her mother had squeezed her hand, stroked the off-black locks at the nape of her son’s neck. Her father had kissed her forehead and the back of Noah’s head. Selene watched them go as her brother snoozed on her shoulder.

With her free hand, as she watched the rest of the ex-delinquents celebrate, she wrote down the vows she’d heard them speak.  

“I, Clarke Griffin, take you, Bellamy Blake, to be my lawfully wedded husband. These vows are my privileges, not promises. I freely give you all I have to offer. I vow to be your lover, your companion, and your best friend. I will celebrate your triumphs and love you through your failures as if they were my own. May my heart be your shelter and my arms your home. I promise you my world and all its wonders. So long as I shall live, I will be with you. You will never walk alone. To have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow to you, Bellamy, my equal in all things.”

“I, Bellamy Blake, take you, Clarke Griffin, to be my lawfully wedded wife. I choose you to be my partner for life, although just one lifetime with you could never be enough. I offer every piece of myself in return. I ask you to walk this path with me hand-in-hand. I vow not just to grow old together, but to grow together. I will love you faithfully through the difficult and the easy. I will be there, whatever may come to haunt us. I give you my life to keep. Your love is my anchor and your trust is my strength. To have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part. This is my solemn vow to you, Clarke, my equal in all things.”