Our Hearts (Have Minds Of Their Own)

Chapter 10: It's the Little Things

The sun had enjoyed the peak of its daily reign, and began to descend for its exit, to be swallowed by the placid sea, a sight Clarke would have enjoyed taking in, if she hadn't enjoyed watching Lexa's graceful smile so much more.

In the few short hours that Lexa had to spend with her prior foster brother, Clarke had learned many things about her.

She'd learned that Lexa's laughter was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard in the world, though, to be fair, Clarke already knew that. It was light and airy and incredibly honey-like, a compliment to her typically lower, calm voice.

She would have blindly follow that laugh into the darkness at a moment's notice.

She'd learned that Lexa had been a fighter in her younger days, defending Aden from just about everything and anything that crossed his path. Clarke had to bite back a smile and young, fiery Lexa, defensive and perhaps a bit much.

She'd learned that their time spent under Nia Queen, whom Clarke hated without knowing, had made them nearly inseparable. They didn't go into specifics; Clarke had surmised that it was too painful. But she understood what was implied, she'd read between the lines.

The fact that Lexa ever had to throw herself in front of Aden to shield him from their own mother, foster or not...It broke Clarke.

She'd managed to hide her tears with her sunglasses, careful only to allow herself a sniffle when Lexa was busied with Aden's ramblings.

Clarke had managed to fend off her own family, as they respected her wishes to give Lexa the privacy she so deserved with Aden.

They had settled for walking and talking, with Clarke doing a great bulk of the listening. She noticed the way Aden squirmed and wiggled his way between herself and Lexa, greedily taking one of their hands each in his own as he swung them on his walk, chest puffed proudly as he told Lexa of his many accolades and accomplishments.

Occasionally, Aden would turn and smirk at Clarke, as if sharing an inside secret with her, like they were the best of friends.

Occasionally, Lexa would glance at Clarke over Aden's ramblings and give her a knowing smile, rolling her eyes at the way her little brother would huff exaggeratedly when he'd found they'd been "canoodling", as he put it, behind his back.

Clarke swore, it was a wonder the two weren't related.

Sinclair was long gone, seizing the rare opportunity to get some errands done without Aden, who'd proven to be more than a handful. He'd promised Lexa to pick him up as soon as they needed him, and was off before a word could be put in edgewise.

Between his ramblings and his inability to hone his focus on one single subject for more than three seconds, Aden had declared his hunger, glancing up at each girl with a hopeful smile.

Lexa rolled her eyes. "Of course you played Clarke to get you dessert beforehand."

Aden smiled proudly, chuckling to himself at Clarke's feigned gape of protest. "I knew you wouldn't let me. You'd probably make me run it off, or something."

At that, Clarke was in hysterics while Lexa scoffed, rolling her eyes as she dragged her two idiots to the café by the edge of the corner, feeling an odd sense of completion in her life that she never knew she needed.

"How does this look?" Raven asked, narrowing her eyes at her own reflection as she took in her dress clad body in the boutique dressing room.

Anya tried not to gape from her nonchalant seat in the back, arms folded, legs crossed lazily. "Fine." She replied briskly.