To say that Clarke was annoyed was an understatement. She woke up every morning with the taste of coffee on her tongue and she hated coffee, it was too bitter. Then throughout her days she'd randomly catch the scent of some spicy/woodsy aftershave when there was no one around and feel soft hair on her neck when she always had her hair pulled back in a braid.
Her soulmate was either trying to get on her nerves or was trying to figure out who she was by annoying her and giving her a headache all day by wearing too much aftershave or how many concussions she'd acquired due to his inability to refrain from constantly fighting.
She knew the concussions weren't real, that her brain wasn't actually being hurt but her pale skin bloomed an ugly purple/blue in random places the next morning and her head hurt for days. It wasn't normal, Clarke knew that. She'd never met someone who had the same incidents happen with their soulmates, it was all smelling and seeing and tasting. Clarke received bruises along with the other senses.
It wasn't normal. It made her cover up, hide her bruises under oversized sweatshirt while hoping that her soulmate wasn't in real trouble, that they were somehow volunteering for a beating, not that it would be any better but it would be a choice whereas if someone was abusing them... no, she couldn't think like that.
It went on for years, through high school and college and then one day during her first year of med school, after her roommate found out about the bruises she brought Clarke to an underground fight club. Though Clarke was conditioned to the smell of the aftershave, she could still find her soulmate by the scent alone.
She was usually asleep at three in the morning when the fights were happening so when one of the guys in the third fight was hit square in the jaw, Clarke felt the crack of her own. Shell shocked and gasping in pain as she frantically pressed her cold beer to her jaw, her roommate, Josie, looked at her with a smirk.
"I had a feeling he was here. Which one is he?"
"The tan one..." she backtracked, both fighters were tan. "They one with red gloves."
"That's Bellamy, he's been doing this since he was sixteen. There's a rumor that he snuck out of the house most nights after coming home from his shit after school job that barely helped his mom with the rent. He's not going to like it when he finds out his primary income hurts his soulmate."
"Wait, this is his job?"
"Technically no. They hold this once a week and it's usually after his shift at a bar and he's working on some degree. I don't fully know his story, I get bits and pieces from Gabriel."
"And how's that been going?" Clarke asked, ignoring the fight and trying not to react to the other painful blows, though her jaw took the brunt of it.
"Slow, he thinks I can't handle him."
"You're studying to become a biologist and he's a geneticist. You speak four languages and he speaks two of them. The only problem that I see is your ego."
Josie laughed. "You're right, I've gotten cocky since I got into Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Charles University, and Kadir Has University."
"Those are three of the top five bio programs, why didn't you tell me?"
"I haven't decided where to go and I'm freaking out. I don't speak Turkish or Czech, I pick up languages quickly but I don't know if I have enough time to learn either before going."
"You speak Spanish, they speak that at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. That's a mouthful."
"I learned Latin and Mandarin for scientific purposes and Spanish because we live in America and it's a melting pot. You should be watching to mentally prepare for the blows."
"I'm used to them being spontaneous, ignoring it is easier."
"I meant that in the sense that when it's over you could go talk to him while I go speak to Gabriel."
Clarke smirked and looked at Bellamy, shaking off the last blow to his ribs that stung Clarke. He had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth but a devilish smile, as though he knew he was going to win in the next few moments. She didn't know what she was watching but Bellamy's opponent swung at him and Bellamy did some move that brought the opponent to the floor and Clarke gasped as the crowd roared with excitement, apparently her soulmate was a crowd favorite.
It was the last match and people started clearing out and Josie held Clarke back from following everyone out and instead pulled her in the opposite direction and down a hallway before opening a door where the six fighters and a few others were milling about. Josie let her hand go the moment she saw Gabriel and headed in his direction and Clarke thought that she'd follow her over to him but stopped short at the sight of Bellamy.
He didn't look like a man who had just won a match and got a big payout. He looked upset, like he lost and she was drawn in by the sorrow that engulfed him.
"Are you okay?" she asked before thinking better of it and his head shot up and he glared at her.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? I beat abusers for free."
"I, um, that's not... it's actually from you," she said quietly, looking away to where Josie was flirting heavily with Gabriel.
"Sweetheart, I can guarantee I've never met you before let alone laid a hand on you."
"The fight... whenever you fight, I wake up with bruises. My roommate found out and she brought me here, the moment the guy nearly dislocated your jaw, this happened to me."
He stood and looked down on her before gingerly touching her cheek and jaw. "You're... fuck!"
"I'm Clarke. I'm in med school so if you want to continue fighting, I could be the medic if it's anything serious—"
"I'm never fighting again. It's one thing if I'm the one getting hurt but it's you too. I don't care how much I hate hot chocolate or the smell of your shampoo or that you spend a lot of time staring at the same tree. I don't know you but I can't keep causing you pain."
"Staring at a tree? You— you can see that?"
"I'm guessing there's a story there?"
"Not one I'm willing to talk about with a stranger. Look, Josie said that this is your main income, I don't want you to stop doing this because you found out about my bruises."
"I fractured ribs and an eye socket, you're telling me you didn't get those wounds? You never woke up with a split lip or a bloody nose? I have to stop, I'll get another mainstream job, it's fine."
"Don't be so rash about it. If there's a reason, an end goal you're working towards, don't rework the plan because of me."
Bellamy scoffed. "I know you don't know me, but I'm not someone who can simply not care. We're soulmates and I'm hurting you, I can end that by making next week my last match. I'll be fine financially."
Clarke nodded and they made plans to have lunch on Tuesday where they argued over almost every topic they came across, they both liked arguing so it was a good thing. On Friday, Clarke and Josie stood on the sidelines of the fights and it was announced that it was Bellamy's last fight, meaning his opponent went twice as hard on him as usual and Clarke got momentary tinnitus from a particularly hard blow to Bellamy's ear and definitely more fractured ribs from the repeated blows while Bellamy was pinned. He didn't win, but that was okay, he somehow made more money losing his last fight than he made winning any other fights.
He kissed her for the first time after taking her to the hospital for them to treat her, but not him. Clarke smiled into it making them both laugh like idiots.
"I'm sorry that I've caused you so much pain," he said for what felt like the hundredth time. Clarke knew that he was going to make it up to her for the rest of their lives.
"You're stopping and that's what matters."
He smiled. "Do you want to go on a proper date once you're all healed?"
"Yes, though we could still do take out and Netflix in the meantime."
