Now that you reblogged that gif with Bellamy and The Iliad, it made me wonder, what kind of thoughts do you think he would've had about The Odyssey (if you've seen it) ???
I have! And I think that he would've been both a lover and a critic of it. He'd be torn, he'd go see it several times.
*VERY MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*
First with the deliquents when it came out and they'd be too loud and throwing pop corn at each other with Jasper asking about 100x questions and not letting him concentrate at all.
The thing is that he did love both The Iliad and The Oddysey. He was a History and English major, he thrives on those things, he secretly writes himself, something only Clarke knows and with whom he shares everything.
He was older when he read the Oddysey. His mom would read the Iliad to him as a kid but he only got to the Oddysey in High School and he was even more enhanced by it. He couldn't stop talking about it for days-everyone was so sick of it that his sister joked and told the others he slept with the book wrapped around both arms like a teddy bear which he violently denied. (even though it wasn't far from the truth).
In reality, both of the books meant a lot to him and in different parts of his life-he always connected the Iliad with his childhood and his mother and the Oddysey with...her death. Aurora had always had a bad heart but was growing sick in the past few years of his high school education.
She died before she could see him graduate, actually but he was of age already and he refused to let his sister be taken away-instead, he became her guardian as angry as she was about everything and as much as she hated this for him.
He would work hard then-both at school and after. He knew going to college right away at least until she graduated too would be out of the question but he still dreamed of it. As he busted his butt in three places-the old diner his mom worked at, owned by Kane, a construction group with Miller and an old timber place where he chopped woods all day long with their friend from the north, Roan, he barely had any time to read.
But when he did, he'd go back to that. His mom had caught him reading it one day when she was already feeling very weak but was still trying to do normal chores like laundry.
She had come to his room and seen him-then she asked him to read some to her on the back porch as she sat in her swinging chair with her knitwork.
"I love it." she said when she turned to him barely awake anymore "Thank you, Bellamy." he had beamed at that-their relationship hadn't been that strong in a while. He had picked her up and carried her inside, putting her down in bed and tucking her in.
He had no idea he had just a few weeks of that left at the time.
But anyway, the second time they watched the movie it as an invitation from his boss, the Arkadia university professor Pike who thought he knew everything and had very extreme opinions. It was with him and a few other teachers and their respective partners. Clarke knew he'd get angry at that whole thing so she squeezed his hand the entire time and after when Pike insisted they had dinner to 'discuss the inaccuracies'.
Bellamy hadn't been able to sleep that night and he didn't want to wear Clarke's ear off but she begged him to just talk to her otherwise she knew he'd bottle it up and just keep that anger in. "They're all idiots, Clarke!" he had said "I'm surrounded by idiots!" which would make her laugh a little, rub his hand softly and push him to bed where she tried to take his mind off of it.
Still, later that night she hears him down in the garage, hitting the boxing bag he got even before his mother died when he and Octavia trained together to keep control of their firey natures.
He hadn't meant to go a third time, though he really wanted to. He loved all the details that he discovered with each view but he didn't want to put Clarke through it-she has had enough of that whole ordeal and she knew it'd be like that when they announced there'd be a movie.
She teased him in a good-hearted manner and told him she was sure he'd see it at least ten times, then probably write a whole dissertation on it or have it become the major theme of his PhD.
He hadn't believed her then but...she had turned out to be right.
And because she could tell how restless he was, she was the one who bought tickets for their third time-just the two of them together, nobody else. "You deserve to see this in peace." she told him "I know how much it means to you." he had teared up and kissed her forehead because yes, it did.
They didn't buy pop corn this time, no distractions. He just watched and Clarke caught herself staring at him more than the movie. She loved to see his excitement at his favorite parts (*The cyclope, the talk with the dead soldiers*) and the ones that somewhat irritated him or made him annoyed it wasn't a strict follow of the book though of course he'd say later that he 'Understood creative choices, it's just that he didn't have to agree with everything. Constructive critisicm lies in accepting differences of opinions, trying to figure out why they were made and maybe even still not like them but know them." That's what he had told her after the dinner with Pike.
And Clarke could see all of those versions of Bellamy as he watched-the little excited boy who's mom read the Iliad to when he was four when the scenes were fighty or adventurious, the rebel teenager she knew all too well when Odysseus argued with someone and the loving grown young man by the end as he talked to his wife and son.
It made her tear up honestly-it was a picture she knew she'd never forget for the rest of their lives.
When they left and she asked him to talk about it if he wanted to, he shook his head and just kept holding her hand in his as they took on a short walk in downtown Arkadia. He was both sad and happy and she could tell so but she didn't want to push-he had such moments and she did too when they pulled away from the world for a minute just to figure themselves out, so she waited.
"Thank you." he had said later when they had sat down with a cup of coffee on one of the benches in the part. "This was...amazing. I feel like I saw it really for the first time now." she had rubbed the back of his head gently and moved up to kiss him.
"Glad I could help." she promised, then pushed a little because she could tell some of the clouds had lifted "Won't you go into another thirty minute commentary about costume accuracies and plot choices?" she teased and he shook his head as he squeezed her hand again.
"No." he said simply "Maybe later." which she knew would be true once they came home, slept, then had dinner and he felt some of his thoughts come back but she could tell something else was on his mind now.
"Is everything okay?' she asked when she reached to touch his cheek and he nodded.
"It is." he promised her and turned to meet her eyes, his own ones glassy "I was just thinking how much mom would've liked this." he said and Clarke pulled him in for a hug which lasted for a long time.
"Well then maybe we could go tell her all about it if you want?' she offered and he pulled away confused but then nodded.
Together, they took the bus to the cemetary, bought some flowers on the way in and sat down by Aurora's grave as the afternoon sun grazed the field around them. "Okay, mom, he's there deal. They did fine, it's just that-" he began and Clarke smiled, once again marvelling Bellamy's big heart which she knew, she'd never get tired of.
