Archive of our own
By: Jekisawrites
It's moments like these with Clarke smirking at him and wiggling her eyebrows that Lincoln sometimes wonders why he decided to befriend the blonde. His life would have been a lot easier without her meddling and shenanigans, but it that would also make it quite boring. Tonight, he isn't sure which one would be worse.
"You like her."
Lincoln does his best to ignore the way she's pointedly looking at him, her smirking growing into something more of a gleeful smile. He wouldn't be surprised if she magically came up with confetti and started tossing it into the air around them.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He closes their apartment door, and locks it, knowing full well that if he leaves it for Clarke to do before she goes to bed it won't be done.
When he turns around, she's standing mere inches in front of him with her hands on her hips.
"Lincoln, don't play innocent with me. I know you better than most."
"And I you, which is why I'm not telling you anything," He steps around her and makes his way to his bedroom. If he thought that would stop Clarke from following him, he was wrong.
"I think I should be offended by that statement, but I'm too excited to care right now. I saw the way you were interacting with her at the bar tonight! You totally have a thing for Octavia. Wait until I tell Bellamy!"
He gives her a level gaze, "Do not tell Bellamy anything, Clarke."
She huffs, "Why not?"
"Because nothing is happening. I haven't even asked her on a date yet."
He knows the mistake he made even before she beams up at him, "Yet! So you do have a crush on Octavia. I knew you two would hit it off! Are you taking her to that rock climbing place?"
He rolls his eyes and pulls his shirt over his head, "I'm not talking to you about this. Besides, I never denied I had a thing for her."
Her hands are back on her hips, "But you never admitted it either." When he just stares at her, her hands drop and she let's out a long sigh. "Fine, I'll drop it and let you get some sleep, but if I can't tell Bellamy, I'm definitely giving Wells all the juicy details in the next letter."
"Tell Wells all you want. I doubt he can tell anyone else of importance while he's in the Peace Corps."
She shoots him a glare, "You're a grumpy old man."
He shrugs, which was apparently the right call because she simply rolls her eyes before walking out of his room and finally leaving him in peace.
&&
Lincoln does eventually bring Octavia to Indra's to rock climb, but he will never willingly tell Clarke that. She has too big of an ego already. It's their fourth time hanging out just the two of them, just him and Octavia. He's not positive that she counts these as dates, especially since they've all been during the day and the only physically contact they've had is when Octavia forced him into a hug the last time he dropped her off at her place. But, he definitely counts them as dates. He's just going to keep that to himself until he talks to Bellamy. He feels like he's betraying his friend, which is ridiculous since he wasn't even friends with Bellamy until Clarke started dating him almost six months ago.
Indra gives him a look when he walks in with Octavia because he never brings anyone here. Well, he did bring Clarke here once but that was because she demanded to tag along and then complained the entire time they were here. It was a mistake Lincoln only made once. But thankfully Indra knows how to keep to herself unlike his pesky roommate.
They spend a few hours there, and Lincoln is pleased when Octavia loves it almost as much as he does. They're both smiling when they say goodbye to Indra and head back to Lincoln's car. And that's when Octavia shoves him.
"You're an idiot, you know that?"
Lincoln hesitates for a moment because Clarke tells him that all the time, but he has no idea why Octavia would say that.
"What?"
Octavia smirks, and its uncanny how much she looks like Bellamy when she does, "When are you going to ask me out on a proper date, you jerk?"
Lincoln chuckles and lifts one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug, "I was waiting until I talked to Bellamy."
She rolls her eyes at that, "He's not my keeper."
They both get in the car after that, and neither one of them says much else about the matter until they're parked in front of Octavia's building.
"You're free tomorrow night, yeah?"
He nods, but before he can ask why, Octavia is talking again.
"Good. Be here at seven thirty, and wear something nice. We're going to that Greek place down the road."
And Lincoln doesn't even have time to agree to this before she hops out of the car and all but skips back to her apartment.
&&
Raven is sitting on the couch when he comes home. There's a familiar bag of craisins sitting in her lap, a bag that Lincoln is pretty sure he bought for himself last week, but honestly, he isn't even surprised. Raven is always coming over and eating his food, never Clarke's.
She looks up from her laptop and makes a face, "You need a shower."
"Hey to you, too."
She hums in response, and grabs a handful of craisins before tossing the bag to him. "Thanks for the snack."
He easily catches them before he heads to the kitchen, "Where's Clarke?"
"In her room, reading Wells' letter that came in today. You know how she gets."
And yeah, he definitely does. She always likes to read the letters in private, taking it all in before she comes back out and excitedly tells everyone who will listen everything that Wells told her in the letter. It's a process, but Lincoln doesn't even blame her. He doesn't know how he would handle it if his best friend joined the Peace Corps and moved across the world.
"How much longer does he have?" Lincoln tosses over his shoulder while he puts the craisins back up.
"Another year, I think."
He grabs two waters before crashing on the couch beside Raven, tossing one of the waters her way.
She doesn't look up from whatever she's doing on her laptop when she asks, "What are you doing tomorrow night?"
Lincoln hesitates because he doesn't necessarily want to tell Raven about his date with Octavia, but
"I'm going out."
She looks up at that, "With who? I didn't know the group had plans."
"I have more friends than just you guys, you know." He huffs out.
She sits up, "Wait, do you have a date? With who?!"
Him not answering is apparently all the answer Raven needs because she's suddenly laughing, "Oh my god, you have a date with Octavia! Do Bellamy and Clarke know?"
He glares at the wall, "No, and you're not going to tell them, either."
"Hey, Raven, Wells says you have shit taste in guys."
Lincoln sends a warning glance to Raven and then he looks over at Clarke who decided to grace them with her presence. "How is he?"
"Tell Wells that there are no decent men left on this continent, and you need to stop telling Wells about my love life."
Clarke laughs as she leaves them to go grab something to eat from the kitchen.
Raven tosses a pillow at Lincoln and smirks, "Don't worry, lover boy. Your secret is safe with me."
&&
He's halfway through dinner with Octavia when he makes the mistake of opening a text from Raven.
It had only been a lot of suggestive emojis.
He turns his phone off after that.
&&
When he gets home later that night to find Bellamy in the kitchen, he feels like Clarke has betrayed him somehow even though that's utterly ridiculous.
"Hey, where've you been?" Bellamy smiles at him over his shoulder while he grabs a beer out of the fridge.
"Uh, I was out."
Bellamy laughs at that, "Obviously, but fine keep your secrets. Clarke and I are about to watch this documentary if you want to join us."
"I just got back from a date."
Bellamy looks confused at that, and understandably so seeing how Lincoln just blurted it out.
"Oh, well. Uh, congratulations?"
And if he's just blurting things out, he might as well continue with that, "With Octavia."
The two men stare at each other, and for a moment Lincoln is sure Bellamy is about to blow. He notices the man in front of him clench his hands into a fist, and it's still clenched when he finally speaks.
"Octavia my sister?"
"I doubt there are many Octavia's around here." He probably could have chosen a better way to respond to that, but.
Bellamy snorts, "Yeah, probably."
They're back to staring at each other after that, Bellamy's hands still clenched and Lincoln still wondering what else he could possibly say to defuse this situation.
"Well," Bellamy takes a step back, "I'm-" He nods towards Clarke's room.
"Right. I'll see you later."
Lincoln knows the exact moment Bellamy tells Clarke because he hears her screech through the thin walls.
&&
Later, Lincoln finds himself texting Octavia to figure out what exactly it means when her brother walks away from a conversation. Five minutes later, she's calling him.
"Bellamy never walks away. Why? What happened? Did you give my brother a heart attack? I don't know if I can date a guy who gave my brother a heart attack."
"I told him we went on a date."
"Oh, shit." She pauses and then, "He's probably letting it build up. All that anger. And making plans to kill you in your sleep. Is he sleeping over there tonight? Maybe you should just sleep over here tonight, Lincoln."
Lincoln can't help but laugh at that, "I don't really think that would help the situation, Octavia."
"Hey, it was worth a shot."
They talk for a few more minutes. After hearing Octavia yawn for the fifth time, Lincoln tells her to go to bed, and she agrees only after making him promise that he'll call her in the morning.
"I mean, hearing your morning voice would be nice, but it's mostly to make sure I won't have to hire a good lawyer for Bellamy for killing you."
&&
Lincoln doesn't get a chance to call Octavia first thing in the morning. Before he's completely awake, Bellamy charges into his room.
"Okay, my first plan was to threaten you. Make you end it with O somehow. I hadn't really figured that part out, but I was certain it would come to me when the time was right. But then I talked to Clarke, who is pissed at you by the way, and she convinced me this is a good thing."
Lincoln sits up, rubbing the palm of his hand across his face, "A good thing?"
"Yes because you're not just an old creeper who has a thing for my sister. You're Lincoln who has a thing for my sister, which I mean, there's still the age difference and it still might be a little creepy, but we can work through that. I realized that I trust you so really, you're the best option for Octavia."
He's still a little lost, "Best option?"
"Yeah, but listen, you really care about her?"
It takes a moment, but Lincoln's brain finally manages to catches up with the conversation he's having with Bellamy. He smiles and nods, "If the zombies come..."
Lincoln let's himself trail off when Bellamy smiles, "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Never."
Bellamy is still smiling when he nods once, "Good."
When Bellamy leaves, closing the door behind him, Lincoln calls Octavia.
"I see you survived the night."
"I think your brother just gave us his blessing."
"Cool. Does that mean I can start sleeping over?"
"Octavia."