It's just Pretend | clexa AU

chapter thirteen

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Of course Clarke had a cat too. A majestic black one that after he had stalked into the living room first looked Lexa up and down, circled the couch once and then jumped upon it.

"Oh shit, I completely forgot to mention him. Are you allergic to cats or something?" Clarke asked and quickly tried to pick Napoleon out of Lexa's lap.

"No, not at all. I love them. I didn't know you had a cat though."

"I have two, but they're usually don't make much of an appearance. Except for their meals of course. And Dino always needs his cuddles."

"Is this Dino?"

"No, this is Napoleon. He usually keeps more to himself."

Lexa carefully stroked the cat's head and the animal dropped like dead on Lexa's thighs and made no effort to move from there for the next half an hour.

Clarke and Lexa discussed their relationship one last time while Lexa was caressing the purring Napoleon and after what seemed like the whole night, they had finally reached the last page of Clarke's notebook regarding the next two weeks. The cat had vanished somewhen along the way.

It was only when Clarke closed the book and put her hand on Lexa's thigh that Lexa really realized what would await her the following 14 days. And it wasn't knowing Clarke's childhood crushes by heart.

"See, we have to work on this," Clarke said and took her hand away again, thank God. Lexa was already burning up too much.

"On what?" she got out.

"That you get all flustered when I take your hand or touch you."

"Ah." By then, Lexa looked like a tomato with the added embarrassment.

"I mean some is great. Blushes I mean. It looks like we're all in love and that's what we want after all. But if you can't even speak properly anymore if someone takes your hand, it looks like you've never held my hand before."

"I mean I've only done so once."

"I know, but Mrs. Blake isn't supposed to do so too."

"But I can't control my... blood."

"The more you do something, the more normal it becomes."

"So?"

"So we're holding hands now."

"For the rest of the evening?"

"Yes."

Lexa once again thanked her body for not having overly sweaty hands.

Clarke's theory did, indeed, not work at all. They watched the third Hunger Games movie holding hands and Lexa was... managing. Mostly because she was distracted and prepared, so she was only semi-red.

But then again, when Clarke slipped her hand into Lexa's while brushing their teeth without warning, the brunette almost choked on her toothpaste. "Don't do that," she mumbled past her toothbrush, trying to keep it together. "You're gonna kill me like this."

"I'm not even doing anything."

"Mhmpf."

Handholding made Lexa blush, okay, fact confirmed, but she actually thought she'd die when Clarke pressed a kiss on her cheek for goodnight. Why the hell was it that no one except Lexa's grandmother had ever kissed her cheek or held her hand? She should've been prepared for the feeling of those soft lips on her skin.

Also Clarke Griffin had kissed her. How should she ever sleep soundly again? Even if it had only been her cheek, she thought she must've been redder than the flags Lincoln's last girlfriend had had.

While Lexa was off debating that in her head, Clarke started laughing. "We really have to work on that. Where's all your pulled together, confident office attitude? Half your employees would rather call you daddy and you're here not even able to take a kiss to the cheek."

A beat of silence passed. Any thoughts about a kiss disappeared from Lexa's mind. "Clarke. Please never say that about my employees again."

-

Clarke's guest room was really nice, but there was one major problem with it. It was clean and tidy and the bed looked perfectly soft-

And Napoleon apparently thought so too.

He was stretched over half the bed with all his body length and when he heard Lexa he just lazily turned his head and yawned. Even when Clarke tried to peel him off the bed, he just clung onto it making himself so heavy, Clarke couldn't move him an inch.

"I swear he's never like this. I mean he likes to show off once in a while and make sure I know he's superior to me but he's never been this stubborn. And he knows the guest room is off limits. I'm so sorry."

Lexa shrugged it off. "I can sleep on the couch if you don't mind."

"You shouldn't have to," Clarke said, nervously bititng her lip. That wasn't exactly how she should be treating a guest.

It turned out, Lexa would never do so anyway. Because on the couch, a light brown kitten was stretched out with all it had and it seemed to smile when Lexa and Clarke approached.

"Dino," Clarke said in her voice for pets and patted his back. "Come on, let's get you in your bed, huh?"

The kitten's happy attitude was not a friendly one, Clarke figured later. It was the most vicious the little ball of fluff could've had.

He hissed when Clarke tried to lift him off the couch and, with a lot of effort, stretched a little longer. Like he expected someone to tell him they were proud of that achievement, he craned his neck.

He didn't care about Clarke's attempts to get him off the couch, of course.

"Oh my God Lexa I am so sorry. These cats are never so problematic. Especially Dino."

"Well they're lucky they're cute. I can sleep on the floor, that's-"

"Absolutely not. My bed is big enough for two, come on. We'll be sleeping in one bed for the next two weeky anyway."

"We will what?"

"What? We're girlfriends, Lexa, already forgotten?"

"I can't sleep in a bed with you!"

"Why not?"

Lexa's mouth opened to reason her statement, to protest, but she just closed it again.

"Do you have sleeping traits?"

"Sleeping what?"

"Like snoring or sleeptalking or something."

"I- I don't know? But what if I do?"

"What if I do?"

"Do you?"

"I don't know. One way to find out."

Lexa sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "Sure," she murmured then and reluctantly, she followed Clarke into the bedroom.

Once the door had fallen into its lock, Dino jumped off the couch and met Napoleon in the hallway. They spent the night in their usual beds on the floor.

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hope y'all enjoyed this, sorry that it's so short I think the next ones will be longer :) stay safe and awesome guys!