snowed-in | clexa

seventeen

When they come back, Lexa puts up the tree while Clarke helps Octavia and Luna search Madi, who hasn't shown up ever since they've played hide and seek.

After they finally find her, Clarke gets back up to the attic apartment and finds Lexa changed in more cozy clothes, scrolling through her phone on the couch.

"Is there any internet?" Clarke asks hopefully, but the look on Lexa's face makes the following answer unnecessary.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm just looking at some pictures of my tree from last year to figure out how we could decorate it. Somehow I ended up with more decoratios this year than the tree can handle."

"Okay, what color scheme are we going for?" Clarke asks, taking a look at the ornaments on the living room floor. "White or red or both?"

"Both would look nice, I guess."

"Alright. Elegant or fun?"

Lexa raises her brows and looks between the ornaments and Clarke. She's not sure where Clarke is seeing these options. "Elegant maybe? The one downstairs is 'fun' enough."

Clarke grins. "Cold or warm white?"

"Warm."

"Gold or silver?"

"Gold."

"Well then, that settles it. We only need these four boxes," Clarke says and points to four of the ornament boxes. Once again, Lexa is impressed by Clarke's organization skills and efficiency. She means, Clarke hasn't even looked inside any of them properly.

"Alright, let's get it done then," she says and puts on some music. Clarke grabs the small ladder to start wrapping the tree in warm white fairy lights from the top, Lexa starts decorating the bottom, and it all works out just fine.

In the beginning.

Because of course, Clarke wouldn't be granted two smooth Christmas tree decorating sessions in one day.

Of course, if she didn't fall into the first one, something has to happen with the second one.

She doesn't crash into the tree though.

Her sock catches at the latter as she wants to go back down, she stumbles, and falls.

Her eyes squeeze shut and a tiny squeak escapes her and she almost feels the hard collision already, the pain, the dramatic injury that would spoil this Christmas dream-

Lexa catches her.

Wait what?

Clarke opens her eyes and somehow, in a litlte bit of a messy way, Lexa caught her. Clarke doesn't get a single word out for a moment, not until Lexa asks, "Are you alright?" and Clarke breathes,

"Perfect."

Lexa helps her stand straight and there they are again, so impossibly close, Clarke's knees still a little weak and Lexa's hands on her waist to keep her upright. "Thank you," Clarke whispers and Lexa nods, because what is she supposed to say when Clarke's eyes are big and blue and sparkly and full of adoration, what is she supposed to say when Clarke is so close, her body so warm against Lexa's?

Truth is, Lexa doesn't want her to leave that place. She doesn't want her to leave Lexa's arms and she definitely doesn't want her to leave her apartment and she absolutely doesn't want her to leave Frostford once the snow is gone.

So what better to do in that situation than the worst possible thing?

What better to do than the thing that will absolutely and most definitely break her heart in the end?