#clextober25

"Lexa, hurry up!"

"I'm already done" the brunette smiles a dorky grin showing her bare, recently painted green legs.

"Do the rest of your body" Clarke sighs with an eye roll and a tender smile that Lexa catches through the mirror.

"But I'm waiting for you" Lexa shrugs, grin in place as Clarke turns to her with an exasperated sigh and her own smile widening.

Lexa's eyes naturally and inevitably pan down to Clarke's naked breasts. The slight sway from Clarke's turn captures her attention like nothing else can, and she feels her own jaw slacken as her mind goes blank.

Clarke bends down to finish adding paint to her thighs after a quick examination, smile turning into smirk knowing exactly what her boobs do to her girlfriend.

Instinctively, Lexa's hands reach out when Clarke's torso gets closer to her and she cups each boob into her hands and presses up to Clarke's body. She's smiling like a fool, a dorky, silly smile that doesn't vanish when her eyes focus back on Clarke's face to watch her raise an eyebrow at her with a scowl that's mostly a held smile and a crunched up nose.

"They needed support" Lexa shrugs, smile widening into a grin as she tries to keep the giggles in.

"How thoughtful of you"

"I try" she shrugs again, unable to stop a blush from rising up her own chest to the tip of her ears.

Clarke swats her hand away and straightens up with a tsk, turning 360 in place to check her legs in the mirror before she's being pulled from the waist by her girlfriend. She does her best to stay at a safe distance from Lexa's legs as to avoid getting any green on her much more translucent white.

Sitting on a towel draped over a stool from Clarke’s kitchen Lexa pouts at the resistance.

"Kiss meeee"

"Careful!" Clarke warns, hands over Lexa's on her waist, legs unmoving as her front is pulled closer to Lexa "you're gonna get green on me, Lex"

"Who cares, make it a statement" Lexa jokes, because they can now, they're comfortable enough with the way they are or aren't perceived by the public.

They are just about to finish a huge world tour with their friends in around a week. They spent 18 months touring, learning how to be comfortable with their relationship withing their own new terms of privacy and secrecy, 9 months since Lexa finally came out to the public, figuring out how much control they can truly have in front and behind the cameras as well as while performing in front of a thousand people.

They know there's suspicions, they know there's people that know about them withing the industry and in their fandoms. They know it's not a secret but they're comfortable with it all. They know the fans that know are more worried about them being happy than about outing them. They know the people in the industry that know or suspect are either under contract, genuine enough to respect their privacy, or smart enough to understand they won't get anything from outing them.

"Lexa!" Clarke scowls with a smile "As if a canon sapphic couple as our costume isn't one"

"Clarke please" Lexa scoffs "no one knows Harlivy is a thing. No one's nerdy enough"

"I'm not a DC nerd and I know Harley is bi"

"That's because you're a bi nerd. You know every single bi character, artist and actor ever"

"Still" Clarke shrugs, trying to tame her guilty smile "I care that my costume is nice for this very expensive and broadcasted party"

"It's not that important" Lexa grumbles. Clarke raises both her eyebrows at her so she adds "We don't even have a makeup team!"

"Because I'm an artist! We don't need a makeup team" she huffs "Besides, Raven —the brand ambassador— does have a makeup team. So by your standards, this is a huge event. Also a hair stylist is coming to get your wig in place later, so hurry up"

With a childish frown Lexa pouts at her, she tilts her head for a kiss and Clarke is unable to resists, she bends down to give Lexa a chaste one. When she pulls back, she takes a singular look at Lexa's still pouted lips and her closed eyes and she leans down again to give her a few more.

Pulling back one final time, she's greeted with Lexa's dorky smile again, eyes unfocused and shiny and Clarke can't help but smile.

"Now can you focus?"

Lexa tsks with an eye roll.

"Fiiiine" she whines as she pushes Clarke away.

"You're gonna have to re-paint your ass if you stay seated" Clarke says as she grabs the paint stick and places it in Lexa's hand.

"That's for you to enjoy later" Lexa answers with a wink and smirk that grows when Clarke bites her lip.

"Hurry" is all she says though, before grabbing her own paint and turning away.

Lexa starts by painting her hands, she knows it will be the first thing to dry and therefore, she will be able to touch her practically naked girlfriend sooner.

While Clarke takes a few double swipes and blending touches, Lexa swipes once and requires minimum blending thanks to the more matte nature of her paint and color. She also needs to paint less skin given that her bodysuit covers most of her torso, while Clarke's top only covers her chest.

Just thinking about Clarke in her costume makes her pause. If she's being honest, she's living in a dream getting to dress up as Harlivy with her girlfriend. She has always been a nerd, it was not a secret to anyone that got to know her personally. Harley specifically has always been a bit a crush of hers; a genius turned maniac for love, the introduction of her love with Poison Ivy in the comics was just perfect, nothing better than a sapphic love to redeem a character, especially one that doesn't want nor needs to change who she is.

"Focus"

Lexa blinks out of her daze and focuses her gaze on Clarke's back. It takes her a second to find her eyes through the mirror, eyes that aren't looking at her, but focusing on painting her own neck. Lexa smiles as she traces Clarke's smirk through the mirror and finally catches her eyes.

"You're distracting"

"If you'd like I can go to O's room"

"No" Lexa pouts "Don't"

"Then focus"

"Fine, I am" she huffs even as her mood lightens when Clarke turns slightly giving her a peak of her rosy nipples.

As distracted as she is, Lexa still finishes painting her full body before Clarke, and instead of being productive she sits there watching her girl, admiring her focus and attention to detail as she covers her cream skin in clown-y white paint.

"Baby" Clarke calls and it takes Lexa a second to look up "Please focus"

"But I'm done! Only thing left is my back… and ass" She adds with a wink, making Clarke smirk through her bitten lip. She smothers her face before failing to scowl at her.

"And your face"

"But if I do my face we can't make out when you're done" Lexa jokingly whines with a pout.

A minute goes by and Lexa smiles triumphantly when Clarke finally lets out a laugh but omits further commentary.

Clarke makes a show of finishing with her paint a few minutes later, putting down her stuff and turning slowly toward Lexa. She stalks forward with a growing smirk and a sultry, hooded look in her eyes as she traces Lexa's naked torso. If she has a comment about the unpainted bits, she doesn't say anything, she just grabs Lexa's bare face in her hands and leans down slowly.

Lexa's eyes flutter closed as her head is tilted back, her lips part and her hands instinctively move to Clarke's hips.

"Hands off" Clarke warns against her lips.

"It's dry" Lexa breathes, a second before capturing Clarke's lips and pulling her as close as responsibly possible.

They kiss as though they were drowning, and they devour each other as if they were starving. Neither is an uncommon occurrence, yet is funny to think they haven't spent a second apart since they woke up. Either way, it feels like they were missing something by not having each other this close.

Clarke gasps out of the kiss after a particularly deep moan from Lexa. Things were getting out of hands and they needed to focus. Her own hands couldn't let go of Lexa's tits though and her lips kept chasing plump ones. Roaming hands kept her hypnotized, long fingers caressed her skin with reverence and needy hands squeezed and pulled at her deliciously.

"Damn it! Focus!" Clarke sighs, fully and abruptly stepping away.

Lexa doesn't have time to open her eyes before she's being turned by the shoulders to face away from Clarke.

"We need to- fuck, Lexa, your shoulders weren't dry enough…" Clarke tsks as she looks at her palms, she's quickly distracted of any coherent thought by the expanse of Lexa's naked back.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Clarke licks her lips and gets to work. With the green paint stick in one hand and the blender in the other she makes quick work of Lexa's back, all the while her girlfriend simply blinks dazedly, still caught in their make out session.

It's annoyingly fast for Clarke to finish Lexa's back; she makes sure to blend the paint of Lexa's back with her front and sides before grabbing the setting powder to finish it all off.

"What's that?" Lexa asks turning her head but keeping her back straight as she tries to look over her shoulder at Clarke patting her back with a cotton pad.

"Setting powder, Lex. Same one you used for your front"

A minute goes by before Clarke's suspicion sets in, Lexa feels it in the way the patting stops for a second before restarting slightly more forcefully.

"Baby?" Clarke asks once she's done "You used setting powder for your front… right?"

Lexa turns slowly in her stool, biting her lip at the edgy tone in Clarke's voice. She casts her eyes down and looks up slowly, her eyes widening little by little as she takes in Clarke's body.

A stubborn smile tries to break free from the tight press of her lips as Lexa watches Clarke's eyes twitch over a tiny tight smile that stares her down. Clarke takes a deep breath in, closing her eyes and turning slowly to her mirror. She exhales just as slowly as her eyes open and her gaze scans her own body. Not so long ago a nice powdered clown-y white covered her skin, now she was covered in patches of green hand prints and finger trails.

Another deep breath is exhaled forcefully as she contemplates her situation before she hears the undeniable mocking sound of a snort behind her.

"You-!"

"You didn't tell me to use it!"

"I did!" Clarke huffs, unable to not laugh at the mess they made.

"Topless? Because that is a terrible way to give me instructions" Lexa shrugs, content with clearing her name with her reasoning.

"Lexaa!" Clarke scowls, still laughing as she turns back to her mirror in complete disbelief.

Lexa laughs with her, standing up and aiming for Clarke's paint stick and blender.

"What do you even think you’re doing?" Clarke asks, smile in place as her eyebrows furrow and her hands go to her hips.

"We can fix this" Lexa smiles, determinately going to add more paint over the green spots she placed on Clarke's skin.

"I have to clean it first!" Clarke yelps, stepping back and trying to grab Lexa's wrist.

"It's going to take too long" Lexa shakes her head, avoiding Clarke's hands as she follows her backwards walk.

"How would you know?" Clarke laughs as she manages to grab Lexa's hands and plant her feet to stop her.

Lexa giggles with guilty bow of her head as Clarke holds her wrist in the air.

"This is what I should've done when we were kissing"

"Handcuffed me would've been more efficient"

"Wouldn't you like that, Woods?"

They laugh as Clarke drops her hands; Lexa links their foreheads and they lean closer. Clarke stops Lexa by her waist, and after a brief huffed kiss she pushes her away.

"Don't you dare get more green on me"

"Fine fine" Lexa rolls her eyes, lifting her hands up in surrender "just let me help you"

"Help me by actually putting setting powder on your-"

"Girls! Raven's here!" they both turn to the closed door as the hear Octavia's muffled shout, surely from downstairs "I'm getting my hair done now, so hurry up, one of you is next!"

"Fuck!"

Lexa grimaces as Clarke curses a little more with her eyes closed. She uses exactly two fingers to hold Clarke's shoulders as she leans in for a quick peck, before turning around to switch paint sticks.

"Lexa your ass!"

"I know you love it, babe, you can stare at it all night-"

"No, Lex, I have to paint it still!"

"Oh-" Lexa turns to look at Clarke and then comically turns some more, peeking over her should to catch her own unpainted butt.

With a groan, Clarke grabs on of the two green paint sticks, snatches the towel Lexa was sitting on and throws it to the ground. With a look and a twirl of her finger Lexa gets the message and turns around. She watches Clarke through the mirror, Lexa catches her biting her lip as she casts her eyes down to her working area and she smiles as she watches a mischievous smirk disappear as Clarke kneels down.

"Do your face while I finish here, would you?"

Lexa smirks to herself as she starts applying her paint, yet still, with all those indicators she does not expect the pain that spikes from her ass all the way up her spine.

"Ouch!" Lexa doesn't get time to turn around when a hand slaps her other ass cheek "Clarke!"

The blonde merely shrugs before placing a kiss where she bit her making Lexa jumps. Still partially turned, gaping down at her girlfriend, she moves her hands to rub both of her ass cheeks that still sting. Clarke is grinning up at her deviously, she shrugs again, unbothered —if anything she's enjoying this— and grabs at Lexa's hips to turn her again.

"First one was your punishment" she says as she moves Lexa's hands away "Second was for motivation" She adds with a shrug and a giggle.

Lexa shakes her head with her own giggle and faces the mirror to continue painting her neck and face. She flinches and turns quickly a few minutes later when she feels teeth on her ass again. Clarke doesn't get to bite her this time, and has the heart to look guilty when Lexa stares her down.

"You're distracting" she shrugs, and Lexa just huffs a laugh and turns again, flinching one last time when Clarke kisses the same place before finally applying paint over it.

Once she's done —after giving Lexa a final slap on her powdered ass— Clarke stands up and considers her options. Watching Lexa powder and dust off her face she makes a mental list of everything they need to do before having to go downstairs to get their hair done.

Lexa turns to her once she's done and her eyes —expectedly— drop down before tracking back up to Clarke's. Clarke makes a show of covering her nipples before speaking and Lexa cackles at it, she fake pouts and hangs her head making Clarke laugh after.

"I need you to apply setting powder everywhere" Clarke nods pointedly "don't miss a single spot and then do your makeup. Try your suit after and we'll fix any bare spots okay?"

"Yes ma'am" Lexa nods but doesn't move "What about your back?"

"I'll deal with my costume, you've done enough"

Lexa growls but says nothing as she grabs the cotton pad and starts applying setting powder to her front. With a nod Clarke grabs her paint stick, blender, and setting powder and heads to her bathroom, she can imagine the pout Lexa throws her way but she ignores it, she's not the one easily distracted.

With dread Clarke realizes that the green paint takes a lot of cleansing swipes to clear, and the drier they are, the longer it takes. She has only managed to fix and re-paint the two full hand prints on her collarbones when Lexa tells her she's done and needs help getting on the suit.

"You okay?" Lexa asks softly. Clarke helped her and zipped her bodysuit with no comment, and though they laughed about it a lot before, the silence now worries her.

"I'm fine, just… coping with the idea that I'm going to look like this for the rest of the night"

"Don't you want my help getting it off?"

"It's not worth it, baby, don't worry" Clarke huffs a chuckle "Make it a statement, no?"

"I swear it wasn't intentional" Lexa smiles with a huff

"Mmm, sure"

They laugh even as the lean in for a kiss and they kiss until Raven calls them from downstairs.

"Go on, go get your hair done, I'll figure it out" With one finally lingering kiss, Lexa turns to leave. Clarke feels her own smile blossom, loving to watch her go "You look fucking hot, by the way"

"I know, I take it it’s the only reason I'm not dead right now" Lexa calls over her shoulder before closing the door behind her. She smiles at the cackle that crosses the door.

A whistle makes Lexa look up from her careful way down the stairs, the high heel boots she got for the costume were not her usual footwear.

"Damn, Woods! You trynna kill somebody showing that much leg?" Raven calls from the kitchen where she's pre-gaming with Anya. Because of course they are.

Anya and Raven were both neck to toe in black leather suits, neither had their helmets on, but their hair was slicked back till the neck, for the perfect fit. Raven's Catwoman costume had bulky boots up to her knees as the perfect cover up for her brace, a gold belt accentuating her waist, and a halfway zipped cleavage framed by her straighten hair. Meanwhile, Anya's Batgirl suit had gold accents from her boot to her belt to her gloves to the bat across her chest, her hair was dyed red and styled to be wavy and big past her scalp.

"She's gonna kill herself with that much heel" Anya snorts downing a shot with barely a glance her way.

Lexa flips her off once safely off the stairs.

"That is fire!" Octavia cheer from the dinning table where she's fixing up her makeup.

"Your hair!" Lexa gasps at her.

Octavia smiles at her and shakes her mane back, her dark curls big and wavy behind her Wonder Woman hair-band. Her makeup is simple, just eyelashes and a bit of blush to complement her off-red lipstick.

"I know right? Now sit down, you're the only one with a wig"

With a sigh Lexa greets the hair stylists and sits by the dining table. She's really not a fan of people touching her hair, but there was no way she was going to dye it like Anya and Clarke did, and if she was going all out painting herself green she might as well get the redhead wig on.

"Hey! You look wicked!" Lincoln winks walking in from the balcony "Where's Clarke?"

Lincoln is the one with the simplest costume, his bulked up physique making up most of his Cyborg costume. He wears a tight sleeveless bodysuits with silver accents over the chest and back, bulky metal-looking boots, gloves and shoulder pads, strengthen the look, and of course the helmet with the cyber eye.

"Oh, uhm…" Lexa swallows with a smile, grateful that she need to keep still for the stylists "y'know her paint was just, uhm, a little harder to… do…"

With a nod and shrug Lincoln sits beside Octavia and kisses her cheek, oblivious to the look his girlfriend shares with her best friend across the room.

"O-okay" Octavia adds after a bit, she eyes Lexa even though she's not looking back and stands up with one more look Raven's way.

Lexa catches the way she kisses Lincoln and leaves in the directions of the stairs, but is unable to do anything to stop it. She hopes no one catches the deep blush that raises from her chest, nor the sigh that makes it out of her lips.

Octavia reaches Clarke's door and with a quick knock and a singular call she opens the door with confidence. She freezes the moment her eyes land on a giggling Clarke who takes a second to raise her hands to cover her boobs. Octavia blinks slowly, her hand still in the doorknob as her eyes trace up and down Clarke's form… before promptly cracking up in laughter.

With Octavia howling her laughs Clarke is quick to join, never mind the ridiculous scene she finds herself in. They laugh so loud that Lexa immediately catches on and feels herself sinking into herself.

"What… did you do?" Anya asks her, moving from the kitchen to raise a single eyebrow at her as she smirks.

"I didn't do anything!" Lexa yelps, way too quickly. She closes her eyes with a sigh before adding quietly "… on purpose"

"Yo Reyes!" Octavia yells before they hear more laughter from upstairs "Rae! Come on, get your ass up here!"

"Oh ho hoo!" Raven laughs and mocks Lexa as she stands up "you did something alright, Woods" Raven calls before hurrying up the stairs.

The Grounders catch the exact moment Raven reaches Clarke's room by the way she howls out loud too, Octavia and Clarke joining. They don't catch everything that is being said, but they hear all the shouts and laughers as the trio of best friends try to find a way to get Clarke to be presentable. Begrudgingly, Lexa admits to having messed up Clarke's paint by forgetting to add setting powder to her own body paint.

Lincoln does his best not to laugh and simply shakes his head. Anya on the other hand, won't stop laughing and asking exactly how terrible is Clarke looking after their freaky make out.

"It wasn't freaky!"

"Everything with you two is!"

The laughs and jokes continue as both groups of best friends finish getting ready separately. The girls upstairs end up in tears at so much laughter as they clean and re-paint Clarke in a group effort. Meanwhile the Grounders downstairs make sure to have all of their girlfriends’ stuff ready to go.

By the time Anya is getting antsy about the time, the girls walk down the stairs laughing still —Lincoln gets the perfect shot of them holding onto each other as they laugh halfway down the stairs— Clarke is still mostly covered in green, but at least it's slightly less obvious that those were hand prints and finger trails.

Lexa's wig is done with big curls and little flowers. She got her friend to do some traditional Trikru braiding from her scalp and Clarke has to take a minute to look at her with a growing grin. Lexa tries not to blush under the attention, but feels her own nervous smile tilt her lips until Clarke gets closer.

"You look so good" she says, grabbing Lexa's face in her hands and dragging her down for a kiss that takes Lexa's breath away.

"Whoa!"

"Hey! Don't undo all the hard work we put in!"

Octavia and Raven chime in with laugher as they grab their arms to pull them apart. Clarke growls and swats them away, kissing Lexa once more before sitting at the dining table to allow the hair stylist to do her hair.

Lexa hunches by the table as her girlfriend's friend's mock her for the short time it takes to do Clarke's hair. She hadn't let her hair mix since she dyed it the night before, so it was just a matter of the hair stylist making her pigtails look nice.

With two models and an actress, they had built a little photoshoot set up by the piano and they took a bunch of pictures, each couple had their bunch, both groups of friends too, and then all six of them together. They take serious pictures, formal pictures, silly, stylish and staged to their costumes, they laugh and hug and overall truly enjoy this part of the pre-party.

They take a Cassamingo Tequila shot for good luck and to get a nice video of Raven —the ambassador of the brand— to post online as a teaser to their presence at the party.

They make sure to have all of their stuff and start heading out to the limo already waiting for them outside.

"Oh baby! You forgot your lipstick!" Clarke yelps as she hurries to the makeup bag still on her dining table. Lexa approaches her and Clarke turns to her with lipstick in hand "Here let me"

Lexa stands perfectly still with her lips parted as Clarke unconsciously bites the tip of her own tongue in concentration to apply Lexa's lipstick. Lexa's eyes grow hooded as she stares at her girlfriend focusing on her mouth, holding her jaw tenderly but firmly to keep her in place.

"Huh?" Lexa hums, blinking rapidly when her girlfriend shakes her jaw softly to get her attention.

"Press your lips together" Clarke repeats, smirking widely as she looks up at her.

Lexa smiles down and complies, her 3 inches heels versus Clarke's customized sneakers complement their height difference nicely, and gives her a natural easy view to Clarke's cleavage. She grins when she's done and Clarke is still staring at her lips.

Clarke huffs something like a chuckle before pouting out her lips and tilting her head up, Lexa leans down immediately to kiss her and doesn't question it until she feels her lips stick a little to Clarke's when they part.

"Clarke! Your lips are green now!"

"What?" Clarke gaps and turn to the nearby mirror, before quickly straightening up with a shrug "Oh whatever, what's one more?" she smirks as she get on her tip-toes to kiss Lexa again.

"Make it a statement, no?" They laugh and hurry out the door before their friends have a chance to call them. After all, it can't get much worse anyways.

Their trip on the limo to the Cassamingo's Halloween Party is full of laughs as the girls share their experience fixing Clarke's costume. Each couple is curled up in one side of the limo, so Lexa keeps hiding her face in Clarke's neck at their friend's jabs and mocking, especially after they notice Clarke's newly green lips. She doesn't really care, but Lexa's still blushing flaming hot, even if her green paint covers it all.

As a wildly and famously broadcasted party, the group took safety measures to keep their privacy in the way they liked it. When they arrive, they drop Raven and Anya at the red carpet for official sponsored pictures while the rest skip it.

A few people look at Lexa with impressed looks and then at Clarke up and down with growing smirks; no one takes their picture though. They greet the few people they know and get along with, brushing off comments about Clarke's costume on their way to some drinks. It takes them a little bit to loosen up and be more comfortable with being seen together; even Octavia looks a bit antsy and Lincoln is stiff beside her.

They find a little quiet corner to be alone and a few of Lincoln's model friends find them and chat with them, they're huge fans of Octavia and love her no-bullshit behavior, so the conversation flows easily, allowing Clarke and Lexa to blur into the background a little and get their nerves under control.

"Funny how she says she doesn't like the spotlight but shines with every single one of Linc's friends" Lexa mutters into Clarke's ear. Her arms us loosely over Clarke's shoulders as she leans against the wall and Clarke leans against her.

"That's because Lincoln always knows the nicest people, and Octavia has no shit to take from them"

"Mmmh, the nicest people, huh?" Lexa mindlessly flirts, leaning her head against Clarke's.

"Oh yeah" Clarke purrs, snuggling into her as she tilts her her head up. Her arms around Lexa's waist squeezes her as her hand holding her drink lifts to boop her nose "And I've got the nicest one right here"

Lexa smiles dopily at her words and blushes at the wink Clarke adds after a bit.

They finish their drinks and chat with their friends until they feel the alcohol hitting and they choose to get another round. On their way, they find Anya holding two drinks and watching as Raven gets her picture taken with a few other models who are also ambassadors of the brand. Lincoln gets dragged into the mix with his friends and a couple other models that came with the ambassadors and the three musicians save Anya from pointless small talk with other people waiting on the models.

Antsy with a camera so close and only one drink in her system, Clarke offers to get their drinks. Lexa smiles at her, enjoying watching Raven lead the group for silly pictures. Anya shrugs with her and Raven's drinks practically full still and a single look convinces Octavia to join her.

They arrive at the closest bar and squeeze in between the lot of people with an exasperated eye roll because neither of them is much of a fan of… people. They giggle at the thought and pull each other close to avoid elbows.

"You good?" Octavia asks nonchalantly, looking for a barman instead of at her.

"With another drink I will be" Clarke says honestly and does her best to not search Octavia's gaze.

Octavia turns to her for a minute and Clarke has to peek a look, Octavia seem to like the result of her quick examination because she nods firmly and decisively turns to the bar again.

"Hey! I've got a four drink bill for you here!" Octavia shouts and barman approaches her with a sly grin "A visionary, thank you"

"This is an open bar, miss" The boy smiles politely and Octavia all but raises an eyebrow.

"I got you to come take my order, didn't I?" The boy gapes taken a back before his eyes jump back to Octavia when she talks about "I'll give you a nice tip just for proving me right"

The boy blushes but stands taller, giving her a gesture to place her order. Octavia turns to smirk at Clarke before placing her and Lincoln's drinks orders. She pulls Clarke closer to her then so she can ask the barman for a rum and cola for her and a tequila sunrise for Lexa.

"You do know Raven's gonna make us do shots when we get back, right?"Octavia turns to her once the barman starts mixing their drinks "You sure you want Lexa to drink even more tequila?"

"It's her favorite," Clarke shrugs "and we're at the house of tequila… Might as well"

With their drinks in hand they make their way back to their friends. The group taking pictures has dissolved and Raven and Lincoln are forming a little circle with Lexa and Anya. The latina has her arm around Lexa's shoulders, holding her drink on the hand dangling off Lexa's left shoulder, she smirks at her while she speaks waving two shots in front of Lexa's face.

"Excuse me, that's my girl, Reyes. Would you mind?" Clarke calls, lifting Raven's hand off Lexa's shoulder after catching the narrowed-eye look Lexa was wearing.

Raven rolls her eyes but easily slides to Anya's waiting arms, still holding two shots in front of her as she waits for Lexa to pull Clarke into her to speak.

"I mind! Woods is the only one who drinks tequila with me!" Raven cries, they all watch as her hands gesture wildly and somehow, the tequila never spills "Anya has to take care of me, and you've declared yourself too old for shots" She pouts and tilts her head for Anya to kiss.

Clarke rolls her eyes goodheartedly and turns to Lexa; the narrowed look is still there but she is more relaxed. Her arm is around Clarke's shoulder and her new drink that she already started sipping is close to her chest. Clarke gives her a little shrug and Lexa sighs resigned. Clarke giggles knowing Lexa wanted her to tell Raven off only because she didn't actually want to deny the shot.

Lexa rolls her eyes as she moves her drink to her other hand and grabs one of Raven's offered shots as the latina grins with her tongue between her teeth. She clicks her glass with Raven's and, with no more prompts, she takes the shot to her lips and tilts her head back to down it.

The liquid slides down her throat, burning hot, and making her feel nicely warm. The taste is strong but savory, and she licks her lips to it, nodding her head at Raven after. She grins wide and takes Lexa's glass from her. Raven moves her arm out and a waiter snaps into existence beside them, taking the glasses from her before lifting up a tray with six empty shot glasses and a brand new tequila bottle.

"Drink up bitches!"

Groans and laughs make it around the groups of friend, jokes and jabs are thrown around as they pass the glasses that Raven fills herself.

"Happy Halloween!" They all cheer, clinking their shots in the air before downing them as quickly as possible.

Only Lexa and Raven enjoy the taste, the rest all grimace and sip their drinks to get rid of the taste. They all take a deep breath, enjoying the slow burn down their throats as they return the glasses and thank the waiter.

The groups takes a walk around the party, finding colleagues and work friends, they split and meet again as they down a few more rounds and share a few more shots with sponsor’s hosts. Raven takes multiple pictures, always down to show off her costume and her girlfriend. Clarke laughs and enjoys stepping way when people go to take a picture, and she jokes with anyone that raises an eyebrow at her costume and Lexa's green hand in hers.

Lexa joins Raven and Anya for some pictures after one too many jabs about her A-list celebrity status and finds a photographer she trusts to ger her picture taken with Clarke. The groups laughs and dances with everyone around them as they find their people. They give in to a few group pictures after losing count of the rounds they drank and make sure to place Clarke strategically behind Raven so that the only tell of her messed up paint is the dark green of her girlfriend's lipstick that mixed superficially with her own.

Hours later, after too much drinking and too much dancing and definitely not enough kisses, Clarke and Lexa find their friends in one of the smaller lounge rooms of the property saving couch space for them. Clarke sits in the narrow space beside Raven on a couch that can't be for more than two people let alone four, but Anya is partially on the armrest and Raven is snuggled against her leg, and Lexa fits perfectly right on top of Clarke.

Clarke tunes out the meaning of her girlfriend's words as she chats with Octavia across the table; she just hugs Lexa close with her arms around her waist enjoying the sound of her voice. She snuggles her face over Lexa's bare back and hopes the paint is good enough to not transfer to her face after all that dancing.

Raven mocks her when she notices, and Clarke flips her off before pointing at Anya's possessive and slightly less than innocent hand around the back of Raven's neck. Her friend looks away before giving her a side eyes that tells Clarke more than she needs to know.

Her laugh makes Lexa adjusts on her lap to look at her. The brunette smiles down at her, her pupils are blown from drinking tequila all night, and maybe also out of love or lust, Clarke can't pin-point right now, too drunk, in love and in lust herself to care anyways.

She snuggles her nose into Lexa's arm and the two adjust so Lexa can wrap her arms around Clarke too, if she ends up with a facefull of Lexa's green tits, there's nothing she can or really wants to do about it. Lexa giggles as Clarke looks up at her from her privileged spot and then she exaggerates a pout. It takes Clarke a second to understand and by the time she catches up Lexa is already clarifying.

"I want that" Lexa whines only for her, a giggle caught in her throat as she does her best to keep her puppy dog eyes.

Clarke is laughing before she's done talking.

A small tilt of her chin is all Lexa needs from Clarke to stand up and hold her hand to help her up. Between laughs Clarke stands up and between those same shared laughs Lexa kisses her. Tasting more tequila than the sweeteners of Lexa's drink on her mouth, Clarke hums out of the kiss as Lexa sits and leans down to be eye level instead of sitting down with her.

"How about some water, baby"

"Is that a sexual innuendo?" Lexa mouths more than whispers as she tries to pull Clarke down to her lap.

"Noo" Clarke laughs, trying to sound regretful, knowing her girlfriend will pout at her answer.

She kisses the pout away and tell Lexa she will get them some water and to stay there to save her the seat. She asks the rest of her friends if they would like some water too, and ends up with an order of six waters and three beers.

The trip to the bar is only a bit challenging; she's thankful that her costume accurately needed sneakers because even though because of them she's shorter than practically every person at this party, she's not in pain, nor worried that she might fall on her ass with how drunk she is.

Handling six water bottles and three beers is surprisingly easy and she smiles at herself as she makes her way back.

"Hey Harley!" Clarke turns to the call that must to be for her "You've got a little green like... all over!" The voice jokes confidently.

Clarke smirks as she finds the very well known voice of Harry Styles in an Elton John costume half across the room.

"Mind your business gay icon!" Clarke throws back as she easily recognizes the costume, she turns her steps to him and grins when Harry laughs, pointing at her as he hops in place happily. Clarke points back at him with her grin widening as she gets only a little closer.

"Tell your hubby to call me!" She calls more quietly "His number's not ringing again" Clarke rolls her eyes with a smile, and then sticks her tongue out at Harry's solemn shake of his head.

They two musicians smile at each other and exchange a hushing finger to their own lips as they grin silly drunk smiles. Clarke turn with a waving hand and continues her way back to her girl, she looks back once and laughs at Harry getting his phone from his back pocket.

Walking back into the lounge room, Clarke stops to smile at the scene in front of her. Lexa sits right where she left her, elbow over Octavia's legs as she sits in the armrest beside her. Octavia curves down to rest her chin over Lexa's head as Raven leans over Lexa from her other side and the three of them make faces as they take selfies from Raven's phone.

Upon catching Clarke smiling at them, all three girls beckon her over with laughs and jokes. Octavia and Raven take a beer and a water each while Lexa just pulls her into her lap. With the rest of the drinks still in her arms, Clarke can only lean back between Lexa and Raven as the girls squeeze together and continue with their photo session.

That's how Anya and Lincoln find them a few minutes later. With laughs, they pose for the selfies too before they help their girlfriends up and move to the empty loveseats across from them. The groups of six sigh happy sighs as they relax and melt into their seats, each couple naturally falling into their own little bubble.

Ignoring Lexa's grumbles, Clarke slides off her lap and sinks into the couch beside her, she wraps her arms around her girlfriend when she follows her and snuggles into her. Clarke smiles as Lexa places little kisses to her collarbones and neck barely moving and simply kissing the skin close to her lips.

"You having fun, baby?"

"Mmmhm… I like it when you call me that" Lexa hums as she pulls back to lean against the back of the couch and look at her girlfriend.

"Baby?"

"Yeah, you call everyone babe… but I'm…—"

"Special"

Lexa blushes as a grin takes over her face, Clarke smiles at her, setting their water bottles behind her as she lifts her right hand to tuck a strand of red hair behind a perfect tiny ear.

"You're special" Lexa whispers with a slow blink, she opens her mouth to add something else, a passing thought that her brain is not able to catch before they're interrupted.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Anya sing-songs loudly to get their attention "third call, I told you we just had to shout" she tells her girlfriend who's sitting on her lap trying not to laugh.

"Tequila Margarita? Ambassador privileges" Raven shouts straddling both even though they were looking at her.

They couple exchange a look and Lexa turns to nod happily at Raven, in no time three servers come over and give each of them a glass with their drink and quickly disappear again. With drunken laughs the group of friends cheer and try their drinks. Raven tells them all to pose and pretend like they're promoting the drink, they take silly pictures and laugh as they enjoy the drink.

Lexa smiles as they both lean back on the couch, she leans her forehead to the side of Clarke's head and stays there when Clarke leans into her as well.

"I love you, Clarke"

"I love you too, baby"

It's useless for Clarke to try and conceal her happiness, letting it spill out of her in an distinctly elegant snorting chuckle, because jesus fucking christ does she love this girl.

Quite literally wants to spend every waking moment with her.

(The sleeping ones too.)

“Are you going to that Alpha-Phi-whatever Halloween thing this weekend?” she asks, for no other reason than wanting to plan her entire life around the girl in her arms. “Rave said she wanted us to make an appearance, but I told her I wanted to see what you were doing before committing.”

“What kind of Halloween thing is it?”

“Costumes. Alcohol. General debauchery.”,

She lays her pout on thick the second Lexa sighs from her half of their shared pillow.

“I don't know, love. I don't know if it's really my thing,” Lexa says with a consoling stroke of Clarke's naked hip.

“It's a costume party, baby. It's everybody's thing.”

“I've never been to a costume party though.”

Clarke balks at that. “What? How is that possible?”

Lexa's shoulder lifts in a halfhearted shrug. “We never did Halloween at home growing up,” she says as if it's nothing, even her eyes drop to the dip of Clarke's chest and stay there. “My grandfather said it was a demonic holiday—”

“Oh my god, you have to be fucking kidding me,” Clarke scoffs. “So, wait,” she tries, softening herself and holding Lexa close through the sinking feeling in her stomach, “so you didn't… you never dressed up for Halloween? Ever?”

Lexa just shakes her head.

“No candy? No trick-or-treating?”

“No.”

“What about school stuff? Like, classroom Halloween parties.”

Lexa smiles and shrugs again, running the sole of her foot along Clarke's ankle as her nails trace tickling circles along the small of Clarke's back. “The teachers always found other things for me to do. Puzzles and worksheets and stuff. Sometimes they'd let me sit in the teacher's lounge and buy me a diet soda as long as I promised not to tell any of the other kids.”

Clarke chuckles weakly along with her girlfriend laugh, because Lexa relays the memory as if it really was some kind of indulgence to be treasured.

As if being a child left alone to entertain herself with shitty games and poorly disguised busy work was nothing. As if spending a carefree holiday sitting quietly in a windowless room reeking of three hour old coffee while her classmates laughed, ate pizza, and played games in their costumes wasn't noteworthy at all.

Despite having never met a single member of Lexa's family, Clarke feels that increasingly familiar urge to hunt them down and inflict physical violence on them all. It's an urge that arises every time Lexa tells her about anything from her childhood. These blips and blurbs of Lexa's past trickling into their conversations that always serve to break Clarke's heart and set her teeth on edge.

She just doesn't understand it. Can't fathom how none of them seemed to see what she sees as she looks at her beautiful girlfriend and feels her heart race. The kindness and strength in her eyes. The delicate grace of her cheeks, the adorable slope of her nose. Every spray of freckles and the little crinkle above her smile. Her sweetness. Her tenderness. Her determination, so unyielding in reaching every one of her goals.

This girl is fucking precious.

And Clarke? Clarke just… does not fucking get it.

Tipping her chin up, Clarke leans in and captures Lexa's mouth in a deep, searching kiss.

“Well,” she sighs when they come up for air, delighting in the hooded eyes staring back at her, “that simply will not do.”

“It's not a big deal—”

“Oh no. No,” she argues as she eases Lexa onto her back to straddle her and begins dripping open-mouthed kisses down the length of her body. “I'm not marrying someone who has never dressed up for Halloween, so we're fixing this shit. Posthaste.”

Lexa's laugh fades to gasp at a well timed nip of Clarke's teeth.

Clarke soothes the sting with a lap of her tongue and kisses down the plain of Lexa's belly. “We're gonna dress up, and drink until we're stupid,” she whispers against the suppleness of her girlfriend's skin. “And then I'm going bring you home, and fuck you in your costume until we get another noise complaint.”

“We're gonna get another noise complaint right now,” Lexa weakly sighs, even as she spreads her thighs wider.

Clarke settles on her belly, kissing the swollen lips of Lexa's slit before licking it with the flat of her tongue. “And I really don't care.”

At the sound of another sharp knock, Clarke's head pops up from between her girlfriend's legs as she glares at the wall.

The hands tangled in her hair guide her right back down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is perfect.

They look perfect.

Everything set and ready for Clarke's master plan.

Two sleepless nights and four goddamn cuts to her fingers, and Clarke wouldn't change a single thing.

It'd taken an hour and a particularly filthy make-out to convince her girlfriend to put her half of Clarke's creation on, her lips and tongue fielding every one of Lexa's arguments about it “looking ridiculous" and “being too revealing” and the dreaded “Clarke, I'm going to be cold.”

All her points of contention hadn't stood a chance in the face of Clarke's unbeatable logic: “But, baby, you look so hot.”

And thus, there they were walking hand-in-hand up to the (surely) disease ridden frat house, each decked out in their custom made costumes—designed, stitched, and hot glued by Clarke's very own hands.

Clarke leads them up the steps of the frat house, guiding her girlfriend by the hand past the few passed out bodies littering the walkway of party-goers who had undoubtedly pre-gamed too hard.

Amateurs.

“Hello, ladies,” an upperclassman sat straddling an already tapped keg greets them at the door. His eyes rove the length of them, first Lexa and then Clarke, gaze stuttering to a stop at the accessory of her costume bulging between her legs. “Er—”

“Sick, right?” Clarke says in her best neanderthal voice as she adjusts her loincloth, with a bro style chin tip for good measure.

“Yyyyeah,” the guy slowly agrees before shaking his head as though to rid himself of every thought from this moment. “Anyway, uh, twenty-one?”

“Yep.”

“No.”

Lexa has the decency to look guilty when Clarke sends her a look.

“Thought so,” he says, whipping a stamp out of nowhere and marking their hands without missing a single beat.

Clarke holds up the hand now emblazoned with a bold, black thumbs down as she gives the guy a very different finger.

He tosses up his hands in the universal sign of, ‘sorry, not my problem.’ “Have fun tonight, ladies. Remember, keep things age appropriate.” He reaches over to the pingpong table beside him already groaning under the weight of prefilled solo cups. “Whatever you do, don't drink those,” he says as he hands them each a stale looking beer. “And if you're looking for anything stronger, absolutely do not go into the kitchen where the vodka, rum, and jungle juice are.”

Lifting her beer in cheers, Clarke grabs Lexa's hand and slips them into the chaos of the house.

“What the hell was that?” Lexa yells over the thump and thrum of the music blasting from the room off to their left.

Clarke holds her beer high above her head as she threads them through the crowd. “Just covering the frat's ass,” Clarke yells back. “If some idiot freshman gives themselves alcohol poisoning, they can say they must've stolen or something because they were marked to not be served.”

Lexa's answering snort is all but drowned out by the sudden shout of, “Yo, sluts!”

Like Pavlov's dog to a bell, Clarke's eyes snap to the call of her people, giving a slight tug to the hand still in hers and changing directions toward the idiot on the stairs.

“Stop calling us sluts,” Clarke half yells as Raven finishes descending the stairs from doing whatever ungodly thing she'd been up to on the second floor of the frat house.

Raven shoves past a startled Donkey Kong and winks at his Ghostface friend on her way down. “It's affectionate.”

“It's really not,” Lexa sighs as her arm finds its home around Clarke's waist. Clarke watches in amusement as she takes a strong pull from her beer and grimaces, while pointing at Raven from over the rim. “You look nice though.”

“Aw, thanks.” Raven beams, plucking at the fringe of her torn fishnets before pretending to zhuzh one of the pigtails on her blonde, turquoise, and pink wig. “I'm hot, but really I just wanted an excuse to carry a bat while surrounded by—”

She cuts off with a general wave toward the sea of people around them.

“Fair,” Clarke concedes. She loops an arm around Lexa's shoulders and spreads them as wide as she can given the crowd. “What do you think of our costumes?”

Raven takes her sweet, sweet time to survey Clarke and then Lexa, her face a blank slate as she stares at their hair, down to their feet, and loops her gaze back up.

“What the hell are you even supposed to be?”

“Oh come on!” Clarke yells.

“Bitch, what do you want me to say? I mean I know you're,” Raven says as she points to Lexa and pauses, “uh, assimilated Jane of the Jungle?”

Clarke scoffs before Lexa can answer. “As if my baby would ever be something so basic.”

Lexa gives Clarke a prim smile when she looks over and returns the affectionate kiss to her lips.

“I'm just ‘Lexa of the Jungle’ apparently,” Lexa clarifies.

Raven frowns. “Thought process?”

“That I'd look hot,” Lexa shrugs. “It was Clarke's creation.”

“Oh I'm sure it was,” Raven says, eyeing the questionably tight bra draped in ripped netting and tattered rags painted with shades of brown and forest green. Her gaze drops to the long, long line of Lexa's legs below an artfully crafted wrap that covers just enough of Lexa's hips to be public appropriate.

Clarke gets it.

It'd taken her a solid fifteen minutes just to stop ogling the bare expanse of Lexa's midriff long enough that they could actually leave her dorm room.

“And um, what about this little getup?” Raven asks, turning to Clarke after her thorough inspection of Lexa's costume. “Dumb blonde meets caveman?”

“One, go fuck yourself,” Clarke says and blows a kiss in Raven's direction. “Two, I feel like it's pretty obvious that I'm George of the Jungle.”

Granted, she hadn't put quite as much effort into her own costume as she had her lover's. But between the borrowed chest binder struggling to smooth down her tits (Clarke makes a mental note to buy her neighbor from two doors down a coffee on Monday when she returns it), the twigs and leaves meticulously weaved in the mussed tendrils of her hair, the eyebrow-pencil-drawn beard accentuating her jawline, and the big, fat monster—

“Dude,” Raven coughs with an incredulous laugh as she stares between Clarke's legs, “are you wearing a dick?”

Clarke glances down proudly at the bulge under her loincloth. “Yeah. Duh.”

“That is, like? The most wrong move I have ever seen for a costume party possible,” Raven says, face drawn up in a look of revulsion. “You're in a house full of horny frat bros and later we're going—”

“And?” Clarke argues with a pointed wave of her hand to shut Raven up. “I'm George of The Jungle to my hot Jungle Lexa, alright, it makes sense. Besides, you're not going to tell me that he wasn't working with an epic python down there. This costume is Biblically accurate when you think about it.”

Raven's face slackens into a look of dubious disbelief. “What, and I can't stress this enough, in the actual fuck are you talking about, you lunatic?”

Clarke opens her mouth to explain the finer points of her reasoning, when the arm around her waist pulls her closer.

“How about we go dance,” Lexa says with an adorable scrunch of her freckled nose.

Clarke exhales out her lingering frustration and nods because, despite the massive amounts of Clarke's pride, this girl has her wrapped around her finger.

She lets her very hot and half-naked girlfriend tug her to the frat house's common-room-turned-dancefloor, but not without a backward scowl to let Raven know this conversation isn't over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So wearing a dick was, in fact, absolutely the wrong move.

The worst, mostly delicious, most rewarding wrong move. So ill-advised Clarke can barely keep herself standing upright as her girlfriend grinds the cleft of her ass against the bulge of Clarke's cock to the rhythm of the latest song.

Four beers and two shots had served to loosen them both up to the point that Lexa's hips moved to the beat like warm, syrupy liquid. Clarke swallows against the dryness of her throat at the way Lexa's body rolls beneath hands.

She’d promised herself to keep her wits about her tonight… but every deal she'd made with her own bearded reflection in the mirror before they'd left had flown right out of the window the second Lexa had pressed her ass tight against Clarke's hips.

It doesn't matter that people are staring. Honestly, Clarke kind of loves the thought of it in this moment; the idea that every one of these frat bros and sorority girls see just how much Lexa owns her.

They dance for hours through the heat and haze of warm bodies emboldened with booze. It feels like a dream she never wants to wake up from set to the backdrop of cheap strobe lights, watching the bohemian angel in her arms light up in flashes of pink, purple, and blue.

The way Lexa's spine arches in such a graceful bow as she lulls her head back onto Clarke's shoulder when the beat is so heavy she can practically feel it in her bones. Kissing lines up Lexa's neck to match the swivel of her hips. Moving time to the music, lacing her fingers between Clarke's as they slide across her belly to make sure she can't move away.

The night is fucking magical, Clarke thinks. From the buzz to the base to the beautiful girl in her arms.

Which is exactly how Clarke nearly forgets the second part of her plans.

In her defense, when it comes to keeping her focus in the face of Lexa's body mingled with the heady scent of her sweat… she really can't be trusted with shit.

But reality comes crashing back in when the music scratches to a sudden halt and the room explodes into a chorus of boos.

“Shut up, shut the fuck up!” an upperclassmen yells into a bullhorn from the bannister of the staircase as he waves his arms for silence. Once the crowd has quieted their complaints to a dull(er) roar, he continues, “Is everybody having a good time?!”

The room erupts into a round of cheers, the sounds of drunken debauchery filling the air as Clarke squeezes her arms tighter around Lexa's waist and buries her nose in sweat-frizzed hair. “I know I am.”

Lexa turns her head and gives Clarke an adorable glassy-eyed smile along with a kiss.

When the house quiets again, the bullhorn booms back into life, “Y'all wanna keep this party going?!”

The room yells back, “Hell yeah!”

“You know what time it is?!” he bellows so loudly it makes Clarke's eardrums vibrate, only to be met with another round of cheers. “It's midnight, mothafuckers! And that mean it's—”

He cuts off and holds the bullhorn out toward the crowd, who take their cue to scream back, “Trick-or-treating hour!”

Clarke nearly breaks from her well-practiced look of innocence when Lexa frowns as half their fellow party-goers start to swarm toward the exit.

“Love, what did you do?” she asks as Clarke takes her hand and starts guiding them out of the house as well.

“Me? Nothing.”

“Clarke—”

“I don't know, baby, I'm just following the fun,” Clarke insists as she continues tugging them along, covertly waving away Dipshit-Derek-from-Alpha-Phi's attempt at a fist bump for getting his part done.

Fuckin’ idiot.

Pausing only long enough to grab two of the canvas bags stacked by the porch's front pillar, Clarke takes off running to stay even with the main surge of the group, making sure to keep Lexa's hand clasped firmly in her own. She smiles at the delighted sound of her girlfriend's laugh as they bound across the manicured lawn, just to pull up outside of the neighboring house.

Panting and out of breath, Clarke feels high in the fresh night air as Lexa's body collides with her own at the sudden stop.

“Clarke, seriously, what did you do?” Lexa asks in breathless chuckle as they stumble into the chaos of people lining up in front of the student housing duplex where two people are currently sat handing out fistfuls of candy.

Clarke just shrugs in answer to her girlfriend's question and elbows their way forward, grateful when the crowd splits as soon as they notice who it is. She only releases Lexa's hand when they're at the front of the queue, discreetly nudging Lexa forward until she's front and center.

“Go on. Hold your bag out, baby,” Clarke urges when Lexa just stands there, her face and ears an adorably brilliant shade of red even under such shitty orange porch light.

Lexa rolls her eyes and opens her bag and… continues to just stand there.

“You gotta say it, dipshit!” Raven's voice yells from somewhere in the crowd behind them. Clarke raises her middle finger in the voice's general direction as the crowd joins in with a chant of, “Say it. Say it. Say it! Say it!” that grows with each round.

Clarke's heart swells and bursts as Lexa laughs and covers her face with her hands, feeling so light she might just float away. She's a lost cause and she knows it. No hope for redemption from her devotion; so in love with this girl who doesn't know how to believe she deserves good things that it physically makes Clarke's chest ache.

That love only doubles—maybe triples, she'll decide on that later—when Lexa shakes her head and motions for everyone to be quiet, before holding out her bag.

“Trick or treat.”

The drunken gaggle of college kids let out a whoop and holler of celebration. Clarke joins in, smiling just to choke back the ridiculous sting of tears as Lexa rolls her eyes with a good natured sigh and accepts her very first piece of Halloween candy.

Clarke doesn't waste any time in retaking Lexa's hand the second she steps aside to let the next in line get their own fun-sized chocolate treasure. They take off like a rocket, running and laughing from one student-house to the next, collecting mountains of candy until the wee hours of the morning alongside a crowd of their classmates.

In all her calculations for the evening, the only thing Clarke never accounted for is the debilitating cuteness factor of watching her girlfriend actually get into the festivities. She hadn't entirely foreseen this feeling that she might burst with affection every time Lexa splinters off with the occasional familiar face from some study group or another, just to circle back around and melt into Clarke's side again. It's the happiness in watching Lexa just let go and let friends yank her along in their shared excitement, all zigzagging between walkways and yards on their hunt for sugary delights, each participating in the time-honored ritual of bartering various pieces for the superior candy haul, just for negotiations to devolve into heated arguments regarding the equitable exchange rate that is Snickers versus Butterfingers.

Having to pull Lexa away before she decks a Mario-clad upperclassman for a rather disparaging remark regarding the merits of red starburst alone lets Clarke know all of her efforts have been worth it.

Her buzz long since gone but still feeling drunk on such dumbass fun, Clarke moves to dash across the street to another house, when the hand in hers tugs them to a stop.

Willing to follow Lexa anywhere she may ever wish to go, Clarke playfully stumbles back into her beautiful girlfriend's body, slinging her arm around Lexa's waist to keep her close as they sway under the dwindling streetlights.

“What's up, baby?” Clarke says in a breathless laugh.

She's only met with silence.

Her smile slowly fades as she realizes her carefree joy isn't being mirrored back.

“Baby,” Clarke whispers, confused by the unreadable expression on her girlfriend's face.

Lexa looks so serious, so focused on nothing but Clarke, it makes her heart skip a beat. She stays quiet when Lexa just slowly shakes her head and continues to stare at her with eyes brimming with a sheen of tears. Clarke wants to say something, do something, anything to console this beautiful girl she adores more than anyone in the world.

She loses it when that full bottom lip starts to tremble.

“Oh, baby, don't—”

“I love you,” Lexa cuts in, her voice thick and strained and raw. The hands on Clarke's shoulders slip up to her jaw, cradling her face tenderly in Lexa's palms.

Clarke covers Lexa's hands with her own and smiles, trying so hard to put her at ease. “I know, baby, I know.”

Lexa shakes her head again, more forceful this time, her eyes shining brighter with the intensity of her conviction.

“No. No you don't understand. I love you, Clarke,” she says in rushed, shuddering breath. “I—”

Lexa's words trail off as she seems to lose whatever battle that had been waging so viciously inside of her. Clarke doesn't mind it in the slightest, only makes herself more malleable when Lexa wraps Clarke up in a hug.

The way Lexa holds her so tight takes Clarke by surprise.

All Clarke can do is return the affection as best she can, running her palms along the length of Lexa's back while trying to soothe away whatever was causing such a reaction.

“Shhh, Lex. It's okay,” she says again, sighing, making herself softer when the arms around her hug tighter. “I'm right here, baby. Talk to me.”

Lexa pulls back from the embrace only for enough to rest her forehead against Clarke's, every warm puff of her shuddered breaths a testament to how hard she's trying to keep control of herself.

In this moment, Clarke knows she'll prove to Lexa that her heart is safe. That she can be as vulnerable as she needs to be. She will prove it to her. However long it takes.

Clarke keeps up the soothing passes of her hands as Lexa struggles to swallow through the swell of her emotions. She holds her girlfriend just like that until Lexa is ready to speak.

Eyes still closed but chest now falling in more even rises and falls, Lexa whispers, “I've never had anyone love me like you do.”

Clarke's heart shatters all over again.

“Oh, Lex—”

“I just need you to know that nothing is ever going to stop me from loving you. And I'm going to do everything I can to deserve you, okay? I promise.”

Every break in Lexa's voice sends another ache through Clarke's heart; a marrow deep sort of pain reminiscent of prodding at a bruise. Because Clarke understands that Lexa doesn't always know what to do with herself when feeling so overwhelmed with emotion. A person so good at showing kindness, always caring and thoughtful in big and small ways… but receiving the same? Accepting love without caveats?

Fighting these demons will always be an uphill battle for her love, Clarke knows.

She's looking forward to being by her side through all of it.

Clarke sighs and lifts away enough to look into the big, teary eyes of her ridiculously pretty girlfriend.

“Lexa,” she says as gently as she can while still flattening her lips into a thin line that reads ‘all business'. “There is no ‘deserving’ someone loving you.”

It nearly breaks Clarke to see the way Lexa's eyes flicker down; the way her jaw ticks as though she's biting back a well thought out argument to that fact.

Clarke cuts off whatever those thoughts are with a quiet, “Hey,” as she takes Lexa’s hand from her waist and presses it to the flat of her chest. “This?” she says, forcing Lexa to feel the steady thump of her heartbeat. “This is for you. This will always be for you. And the only thing you have to do to earn it or deserve it or—or whatever it is you think… is to just be here. Just existing is good enough for me.”

Bringing her arms up to hang over the mostly-bare expanse of Lexa's shoulders, Clarke leans down just enough to catch Lexa's eyes.

“Well, that and grilled cheeses,” Clarke adds, biting her lip with a sultry flutter of her lashes at the reminder of that particular memory.

Lexa agrees with a shaky smile even as her ears flush an adorable shade of red. “Can't forget those. As many as you want.”

Unable (and unwilling) to stop herself, Clarke tips forward and presses a sweet kiss to Lexa's lips. “You and me and grilled cheeses forever, baby.”

Those big doe-eyes stare at Clarke like she holds every last secret of the universe.

“I promise not to be this dramatic when we take our kids trick-or-treating for the first time,” Lexa says with a wet laugh.

And oh good Christ in Hell, this girl has no idea what she does to Clarke. A natural born heartbreaker, Clarke thinks, swooning at the way Lexa says it so casually. So mindlessly. As though it's already a foregone conclusion for her, too.

Needing to see this pretty girl in her arms smile before the entire world collapses in on itself from the weight of her sad, puppy eyes, Clarke snorts lazily, “Don't worry, I will.”

“What?”

“Cry. Oh I'm gonna cry like an absolute idiot the first time we take our kids trick-or-treating,” Clarke says, feeling her skin warm pleasantly at just saying the words herself. “Seriously. Like I'm going to embarrass them. Probably you as well. It'll be a scene.”

Lexa shakes her head with another soggy sounding laugh. "Clarke—”

“No, I'm telling you it's going to be gross, baby. Makeup running. Definitely snot. A lot of it. You're going to really regret all your life choices in that moment.”

Visibly pulling herself together, Lexa swipes away the tear tracks that line her cheek and shoots Clarke a knowing look. “I won't, but just to clarify, are you planning on bribing all of our neighbors to give our children candy too, or…?”

Clarke gives a completely convincing exaggerated scoff. And waves her hand in dismissal. And looks steadfastly forward, right over Lexa's shoulder.

“What? I don't even—I don't know what you're even talking about? I've never seen any of these people before in my life,” she says in a way that would undoubtedly be convincing to someone who is very, very stupid.

Unfortunately for Clarke in this particular moment, her girlfriend is not.

Without waiting for a reply, Clarke shouts a resounding, “Candy time!” as she grabs Lexa's hand and takes off across the street in search of more sweets… ignoring the bounce of the cock between her legs every step of the way.

Never again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether it's the sugar rush at play or simply the effects of the costume, Clarke really can't be sure. But what she does know with every ounce of her soul is that… they're definitely getting another noise complaint.

Probably a fine, too.

And not one single part of Clarke can make herself care.

Not when Lexa had practically tackled her the moment the door to her room had shut behind them, candy bags ripped away and spilled across the floor to be replaced with eager hands and lips. Lips that had kissed Clarke backward until they'd both tumbled onto the bed, and hands that pawed at her bound chest until a joint effort was made to free her.

The struggle had been worth it, Clarke reckons with a grin, if Lexa's glassy-eyed focus on every bounce of Clarke's tits is anything to go by.

Clarke tightens her grip on Lexa's thighs straddling her. She squeezes with every forward rock, spurring on the punishing rhythm as Lexa fucks herself in short, hard snaps of her hips.

“Fuck, baby, just like that,” Clarke sighs, bowing her back just to bring her chest closer to her girlfriend's mouth.

The call and response feels pavlovian when Lexa dips her head down to wrap her lips around the stiff peak of Clarke's nipple, the vibrations of her moans traveling through Clarke's body like a shockwave. She clenches hard around nothing. Jealously picturing how filled Lexa must feel right now as she lifts the tattered ends of her girlfriend's loincloth to see how good she looks wrapped so tight around the toy strapped to Clarke's hips.

“You're so soft, baby. So soft and wet. I love being inside you,” she breathes.

Lexa moans out another filthy sound and plants her hands on Clarke's ribs, using the leverage to fuck even harder while grinding the reddened tip of her clit against the harness. Her panting builds with every thump of the headboard against the wall, her eyes never straying from the effects of her rhythm playing in the sway of Clarke's tits.

Three booming knocks from next door only seem to egg Lexa on more.