dominance | ( eudio cuddlr )

[it was almost ironic how it has been so easy for her to type out her response to him earlier but when he asks her the question in person, there's a brief moment of hesitation because she can tell from the smug look on his face he was still turning this around on her by asking her the question again.

it's not like they haven't hugged before this. it's happened plenty of times between them and probably more so in the last several months since they were both more comfortable around each other lately. it had practically become an unspoken thing between them until their most recent conversation at least. she arches her brow questioningly at his words because she already answered him before] You asked me that before— the last I checked, I already gave you your answer. [technically he didn't directly say yes but conceding asking him if he would give her a hug was close enough as far as she is concerned]

I'm just checking.

[ he gives her a shrug. baiting clarke had been fun in the beginning, although it'd been born from a slightly malicious intent than anything else. now? he's doing so as a friend. it's fun to bait clarke, because it's what friends do — they push one another, albeit gently, and he definitely likes to get under her skin when the time's right. ]

[ rather than remain standing, he helps himself and flops onto her couch, stretching out. he looks up at her, lips curved upward, ] Seeing if you'd chickened out.

[clarke just watches as he heads further inside and makes himself at home by stretching out on her couch where he might find a few of her sketchbooks nearby from when she was drawing either. it's not something she dwells too much on though because his words distract her from her line of thought and she can't help but laugh slightly] Oh yeah, sure.

What makes you think I would chicken out? [maybe she can think of a couple of reasons such as the fact this was the first time she has directly asked him or that it was through cuddlr but there was no way she was backing down now]

[ truthfully, bellamy thinks clarke's brave. capable of looking out for herself and more or less a badass, he only likes to tease her for the sake of seeing her exasperated. and a part of him wonders if she's even enjoying herself here, or if she's continuing to whip herself for some misdeed she'd done when she was ten years younger. ]

[ his brows lift as he gives her a pointed look. letting that speak for itself for a moment, her sketchbooks sit in his peripherals and catches his eye. ]

What's this? [ from where he's comfortably flopped on her couch, he pulls himself up so he can lean forward to grab one. ]

[bellamy doesn't even need to respond because she can tell from the look he is giving her in that moment that it was probably because of the reasons she thought herself] Well you were wrong in assuming that either way.

[she heads over towards him and smiles slightly when she sees him pick up one of her sketchbooks. if she were paying closer attention she would notice that it was the same one she didn't want bellamy to see but right now she was currently unaware] Oh— it's just one of my sketchbook.

[ bellamy doesn't reply. glancing up at her with a slightly arched brow, he looks back down at it and invites himself to pry. ]

[ clarke never had much of a chance to draw on the ground, save for the map he'd tried to commit to memory of mount weather's bunker. after her birthday gift and what he's seen of her artwork, he thinks it a shame she hasn't used her skill for anything else. ]

[ flicking through the pages, his brows knit together. ] Do you make it a habit to draw people you know?

[clarke just leans against the couch while looking over his shoulder as he browses through her sketchbook. it had a few of her practice sketches she has started drawing for bellamy and the moment he stops on a page that happens to be featuring a drawing of him, clarke finds herself freezing slightly at his words, feeling slightly flustered at his discovery] Oh. That's— well yeah. I do that sometimes.

[she should have figured that just like how caroline happened to find out about this, it was only a matter of time before bellamy learned about it as well. it was a bit awkward though since she hadn't exactly asked him about it and it was hard to tell with his expression if he was okay with it or not]

[ he flicks through a few more pages before he stops. he thinks he can see her from her peripherals, but he doesn't look up at her. a part of him doesn't want to, giving her some semblance of privacy even though he's destroyed it by a fraction. ]

Do you have a book per person?

[ because there's a lot of what looks like him in this book, but bellamy doesn't want to think of himself as the type to believe anyone who has freckles, shaggy-like hair, and a particular slope to his nose is him. ]

[in this moment, clarke feels like just grabbing the sketchbook from him before he delve any further in that particular one but she knows that would only draw attention to the fact she hadn't intended for him to see it. his question doesn't help either because he was the only person she did that for.

clarke tries to play it off casually though while her mind scrambles for an answer without outing herself entirely] Yeah— I figure that's easier for organization so everything is all in one place when I'm looking for something I'm working on. [technically that's not a lie since she does like to keep her work organized]

So.

[ he glances back down at the sketchbook, still open to a sketch of what looks like himself. it has to be him. she hasn't stated otherwise, and though bellamy's sometimes arrogant in the way he wants to attract people, he doesn't think he's entirely out of line to believe this is him. ]

Who else do you have sketchbooks of? [ he looks up at her, brow arched. it's all innocent, truly. for once, he's not trying to goad her in an attempt to tease her mercilessly. ]

[before bellamy even asks the question, she knows she should have seen it coming because of course he would ask about it more specifically] Oh— mostly a couple people I've done commissions for and a few other friends of mine.

Some of my other books only have a few sketches though because they have long since left this place. [she feels bad slightly for bending the truth to work in her favor with his question but the alternative is far more embarrassing]

[ he believes her. clarke has talent, and he knows that anyone who's seen her drawings would agree. he finds no fault in her response, even though he hadn't endeavoured to search for one. ]

Who commissioned me?

[ he looks back down at the sketchbook, gently pulling the pages from the front of the book back so he can get a better look at the drawings he'd sped right past. ]

[ he glances up at her. ] Assuming these are me. They look a little like me.

[clarke is relieved that he doesn't question too much further on who else she had sketchbooks for but his questions catches her by surprise. she knows that if she names anyone that he knows then he'll follow up with them about it which will only make things worse for her so instead she decides to admit to it.

it's not like she hasn't drawn people before yet for for reasons she doesn't want to acknowledge, it is making her feeling slightly nervous in answering his question] Yeah, they're drawings of you.

It's— well it wasn't exactly for a commission but I guess that would be me. [or in other words, she decided to just draw him because she felt like it]

[ bellamy's not too sure who he was expecting to be the requester of any sketches drawn to his liking. but it's evident he hadn't been expecting that. ]

[ he looks at her, then glances down. it's almost like the entire sketchbook has a new meaning, even though he can't quite discern what that is just yet. he understands what commissions are — people pay and request for something in particular to be sketched — but he knows clarke isn't paying herself. ]

Why? [ his voice is soft when he looks up at her, expression matching his tone. ]

[clarke just watches him for a few moments as if to determine how he would react and it feels like the longest couple minutes of her life when he responds only to ask her question: why she was drawing him?

it should be a simple answer but it's one that clarke finds herself not too sure about considering it is just something she found herself doing one day without realizing it. her expression softens slightly when she momentarily looks towards him and finally manages to find the words to answer him]

Well you already know that I draw people I'm friends with sometimes— and well, you're important to me so I guess I was feeling inspired.

Edited (oops i missed a word) 2016-12-18 08:38 (UTC)

[ that's not the answer he'd been expecting. it's far from what he had predicted. ]

[ bellamy doesn't look back to the sketchbook, his gaze lingering on her before his eyes drop. she'd once told him he inspired the kids in the camp. it's a moment he's never forgotten, even if he's found it hard to believe in himself. he just never thought that group also included her. ]

You drew a lot, Clarke. [ he understands that this may be slightly uncomfortable for her, and so instead of pressing as he wants to do (but lacks the questions to even go forth), he glances down at the sketchbook before returning his gaze to her. ]

[ brow arching softly, his lips quirk upward when he teases, ] Were you feeling that inspired?

[clarke just looks down, focusing on her sketchbook that he is holding in his hand instead of looking directly at him to force back the slight blush on her cheeks. her words before weren't without a purpose because she clearly remembers what he told her about drawing something that inspires her and naturally the first person she seemed to think of was bellamy. it wasn't that much of a surprise to her when the first painting she did was inspired by his initial request to draw cerberus for him.

the several rough sketches she still had in her sketchbook trying to make her depiction of the three headed dog to be perfect for him so the fact she drew inspiration from that just made sense to her and that she just liked drawing for him too, which was why it was bigger than most of her other sketchbooks. she had initially hesitated when the idea first came to her back then but over the last few months, drawing him has been something she had been doing without realizing it but in a way that was sort of calming for her.]

Yeah, maybe I was feeling that inspired. [she answers a bit quietly before she finally looks towards him, while fully aware that he was teasing her but she tries to push down whatever she is feeling right now] Though I'm sure you can see that for yourself from my sketchbook.

[ he can see it, just as anyone else can see it. bellamy's first thought isn't to think it means anything. his mind doesn't seem to work that way, as he's always looked for the worst in every scenario so he can try and plan to block it. (he's never been exceptional at it, but it's helped in the most recent past to always look at a situation and be a pessimist about it.) ]

[ he looks back down at the sketchbook, and finds that despite himself being the best interrogator of the original hundred, he doesn't have anything to say. he doesn't quite know what he'd like to ask. ]

[ so he closes it and places that sketchbook on the nearest table, and finds that that movement has left him a little vulnerable, since he has nothing to use to draw her attention elsewhere. ]

Do you sell any of them?

[ it's not the question he'd want to ask, but he looks to her, and finds that despite it sounding a little lighter than before, something in his chest feels heavy. ]

[clarke almost expects him to continue with his teasing because from her perspective, her words make the meaning of her sketchbook more obvious but his response only seems to surprise her.

from the drawings she's done so far, the only ones she has sold to people mostly consisted of their specific requests because more often than not she would just gift it to her friends instead of selling it not really expecting anything in return or just draw for herself mostly like she has in the past.

she's still not quite used to the idea of actually selling her work despite how she has been doing it for a while now but as she watches bellamy put down her sketchbook on the table, she just shrugs slightly] The ones in that sketchbook? No, I haven't yet. [she might have said she hadn't yet but in actuality she doesn't plan to sell them at all]

[ he arches his brow. he calls bullshit on that one. instead of saying the words, though, he lets his own disbelief speak for him. ]

Who's going to want to buy a picture of me?

[ hello self-deprecation, my name is bellamy. it's no news to anyone who knows him at all that he has the lowest opinion of himself anyone can find. in this case, it's strange to him to think anyone would want to purchase a picture of him at all. though the sketches are quite good, it's the subject that leads him to believe clarke's full of shit. ]

[ rather than call her out on it, though, he doesn't. not directly, anyway. ]

[clarke isn't surprised by how skeptical he is of her words or even the fact he thinks no one would buy a drawing of him. she hadn't even considered selling it or even the rest of the drawing within that sketchbook so he wasn't wrong to indirectly call bullshit on her answer for that but she doesn't believe for a second that someone wouldn't buy a drawing of him]

You never know— [she shrugs slightly before admitting to what she actually meant] Someone might be interested but I guess I never really thought about selling these. [she knows he hasn't said anything against it but it was mostly because she hadn't exactly asked if she could draw him]

[ and there's his answer. whether bellamy really wants to take it for what it is is another question entirely. ]

If you want to, you should. [ it's not because they're of him. if anyone should know bellamy's far from being egotistical, it's clarke griffin. he can be arrogant and insufferable, obnoxious and incredibly stubborn, but clarke's one of the few who has to know bellamy blake doesn't think of himself too highly, or at all. ] If you need money or want to build yourself as an artist. Whatever people do around here to get people buying from them. You should do it.

[clarke has always been a bit modest about her artwork and while she has been selling her work, it was never for the money even if some people insisted on paying her for it. she knows he isn't necessarily referring to the drawings she has done of him but she isn't surprised by his answer especially since she remembers that he was encouraging her before too. she smile slightly while considering his advice before she manages to find the words to respond] Yeah— you know I've been selling my drawings and do commissions for people by the boardwalk though. Technically I don't need the money but I guess I could look into other ways to showcase my artwork.

[ this is an easier topic of conversation than that of the drawings of him. although it's still in the same ballpark, bellamy feels a little lighter because of it. ]

[ and it shows, as he's more into conversing than before. his posture becomes more comfortable, no longer stiff and attempting to hold back. his brows furrow as he asks with ease, ] Can't you put them in that gallery?

[the slight change in topic is something clarke feels a bit more at ease with too since she is glad his focus isn't on her drawings of him anymore.she had actually thought about putting her art in a gallery awhile ago but that was around the time she thought to start selling them by the boardwalk first to see if she got any interest in her artwork] Oh— yeah, I guess I could.

You know, I was thinking of doing that before but I wanted to see how my artwork would sell at first before I offered up some pieces for the gallery.

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