Everything is Nothing (when I’m not with you)
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: The 100
Genre: Het
Spoilers: None
Pairing: Lincoln & Octavia. Because reasons.
A/N: I asked for prompts &
mizzy2k said "Exploration" and "Wonder"
Lincoln almost lost his drink when 180 pounds of woman landed playfully in his lap. To be fair, it was hardly a surprise. He’d known Davina for almost all his life. She’d been a fierce opponent in training & he’d wager half his art supplies there was no better warrior among his people, the Mountain Men or the Sky People. She was just as intense in his bed (& sometimes hers) as she was when preparing for battle. Out of habit, he wrapped his arms lightly around her waist. Her smile was brilliant & inviting. His was warm but polite. Davina straightened & stared inquisitively at him for a long moment.
“Who is she?”
He contemplated lying but Davina knew him too well.
“So you won’t even tell me her name? You, a warrior & our Healer, with someone who can’t defend herself?”, she scoffed. Even though they both knew she’d been heavy with tonight’s libations, her bearing when she walked away from him was nothing short of regal.
Octavia chafed at Bell’s restrictions, especially now that she was supposedly free on Earth, but teenage rebellion wasn’t the reason she was trekking deeper into a section of the forest she had never seen before. There was a large beautiful white flower with a streaky red core just…sitting there. She’d never seen it before but it definitely did not grow from the plant that it was deceptively sitting on. Without hesitation, she picked it up & inhaled its fragrance, light & somehow heady all at once. She had always been drawn to beauty, maybe because there was so little of it beneath the floor. It was a bright day out so she kept walking deeper into the trees. A few more steps took her to another flower, exactly like the one she carried. Her eyes narrowed & she picked up her pace now that she realised the flowers marked a trail. She almost screamed when a man seemed to materialise out of nowhere. Instead, she clapped a hand to her mouth to not give him away a second before she leaped at him. He caught her effortlessly.
“Lincoln,” she stage whispered. “I’ve been so worried.”
He crushed her to him as he breathed in her scent, really breathed her in, for the very first time.
“You shouldn’t be. I was born here; these are my people.” His eyes bored into hers as he stepped back from her a fraction. “You are in far more danger.”
She waved her flower under his nose, lightly brushing it against his chest.
“Is that really why you led me here?”
His expression softened considerably as he held out a hand that she took without hesitation.
He took her to a hidden waterfall & watched as desire & fear chased each other across her face.
“What is it?”
It took her a moment to tear her eyes away from the water to look at him.
“That first day. We – we were heading to Mount Weather, just four of us. I jumped into a river & almost got eaten alive.”
He stepped closer, cupped her cheek with one hand & held her with a steady gaze. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
And as the certainty of that settled in her chest, she let him lead her to the water. When she cupped her hands & threw water in his face, he knew he’d made the right choice. He narrowed his eyes & Octavia, sensing that maybe that wasn’t her best idea, dove into the water to get away from him but this was his land & his secret spot & she didn’t have a prayer. He caught her waist & propelled her squirming body forward, surfacing when he thought she’d need air. He tickled her foot as she brushed past him & she splashed him reflexively as she tried to get away. He waited, watching for the moment she’d find her surprise. She stood slowly, advancing past the wall of water deeper into a small cave. He followed behind her. He watched her watch the water as she slowly moved her hand through it, leaving a trail of bioluminescence in its wake. She looked up at him, the movement sudden as if he was intruding on her privacy.
“Lincoln,” she whispered reverently. He answered her with a smile he was beginning to suspect was just for her, some long lost well of joy that she alone seemed to be able to tap. He swam in wide circles around her just so she could be surrounded by the colourful glow without having to do much at all.
All too soon, it was time to go & the Octavia he led out of the waterfall was a completely different creature from the one that followed him in. He handed her a towel before retrieving one for himself. When he stood to full height he was ambushed by a fierce hug & a swift kiss to his chest that stole his breath. “Thank you,” she said simply. He took her hand before she could move away &, never looking away from her face, kissed it.
Lincoln’s eyes had been closed for the past 45 minutes – he needed to sleep – but the more time he spent with Octavia the less able he was to fall asleep without her. He’d been trying to picture the soothing landscapes he loved so much but that was interrupted by remembering the wonder on Octavia’s face when she took him by the hand to the butterfly field one night. In truth, he’d been there many times but it was never as beautiful to him as it was that night. But then, he’d been focused on the way emotion played across her face & how the glow of creatures seemed to pale beside the luminosity of her skin. Then he switched to the sea – the smell of the ocean & the caves his friends loved to explore there & before he knew it he wondering what it would feel like to hold her close with the vast ocean surrounding them. A lesser man would sigh in frustration but Grounders knew that unplanned sound could cost you your life. Lincoln simply opened his eyes & when his senses told him all was as it should be, packed a small bag & headed for their cave.
He entered soundlessly & lit a small torch. He reached into his bag, flipped to a clean page in his book & started sketching the last person he ever expected to have feelings for & the one person he was definitely supposed to avoid. He drew her from memory as he had last seen her – curled on her side, one leg thrown carelessly over his, breath slowly passing between her parted lips. His task complete, his eyes caressed her image.
“I didn’t leave any flowers for you,” he said without preamble.
He felt a pair of hands land softly on his shoulders before sliding around to wrap him up.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
His eyes closed as her lips landed softly on his head. He freed himself from her arms long enough to tug her into his lap. As his arms interlocked about her, she felt again like he was saving her life. Their eyes met & held for several heartbeats until Octavia began idly tracing delicate patterns on his face.
“This cave feels more like home than my house.”
And as the implication of that filled the tiny space, Octavia’s breath hitched & she became absolutely still. This man, who saved, & kept on saving, her life, had taught her that allegiances are not solely based on blood or people group. In the midst of a brutal war, he had taken the risk of being kind & in a heartbeat altered the course of both their lives. She closed the distance between them with a kiss that was brimming with her frustration at being unable to put the powerful, forbidden emotions bubbling beneath her skin into words. Lincoln cradled her to his chest before standing & laying her down on the furs by the fire. He pulled away from her for a moment & stared down at her face, reverence in his eyes. He placed a trail of tender kisses on her forehead, her cheek, her neck. Octavia moved to pull her shirt from her body but found her progress immediately obstructed. He flicked dark eyes to hers.
“Let me,” he stated. So she did.
Later, she curled up against him, ear pressed to his heart, hand tracing lazy circles on his chest. She felt secure & drowsy in Lincoln’s hold, who had one hand playing in the hair at the base of her scalp.
“What was keeping you awake?” he asked, apropos of nothing.
“A nightmare. Your people branded you a traitor & consigned you to death by a thousand cuts. I kept trying to reach you but I was too late.”
Lincoln wrapped his arms tighter around her & pressed her head back against his beating heart.
“I’m right here.”
He ran his hand in soothing circles on her back & kissed the top of her head.
“Sleep,” he commanded. & saturated with the warmth from his body & the reassurance of his pulse, she did just that.
Fandom: The 100
Genre: Het
Spoilers: None
Pairing: Lincoln & Octavia. Because reasons.
A/N: I asked for prompts &
mizzy2k said "Exploration" and "Wonder"Lincoln almost lost his drink when 180 pounds of woman landed playfully in his lap. To be fair, it was hardly a surprise. He’d known Davina for almost all his life. She’d been a fierce opponent in training & he’d wager half his art supplies there was no better warrior among his people, the Mountain Men or the Sky People. She was just as intense in his bed (& sometimes hers) as she was when preparing for battle. Out of habit, he wrapped his arms lightly around her waist. Her smile was brilliant & inviting. His was warm but polite. Davina straightened & stared inquisitively at him for a long moment.
“Who is she?”
He contemplated lying but Davina knew him too well.
“So you won’t even tell me her name? You, a warrior & our Healer, with someone who can’t defend herself?”, she scoffed. Even though they both knew she’d been heavy with tonight’s libations, her bearing when she walked away from him was nothing short of regal.
~~~~
Octavia chafed at Bell’s restrictions, especially now that she was supposedly free on Earth, but teenage rebellion wasn’t the reason she was trekking deeper into a section of the forest she had never seen before. There was a large beautiful white flower with a streaky red core just…sitting there. She’d never seen it before but it definitely did not grow from the plant that it was deceptively sitting on. Without hesitation, she picked it up & inhaled its fragrance, light & somehow heady all at once. She had always been drawn to beauty, maybe because there was so little of it beneath the floor. It was a bright day out so she kept walking deeper into the trees. A few more steps took her to another flower, exactly like the one she carried. Her eyes narrowed & she picked up her pace now that she realised the flowers marked a trail. She almost screamed when a man seemed to materialise out of nowhere. Instead, she clapped a hand to her mouth to not give him away a second before she leaped at him. He caught her effortlessly.
“Lincoln,” she stage whispered. “I’ve been so worried.”
He crushed her to him as he breathed in her scent, really breathed her in, for the very first time.
“You shouldn’t be. I was born here; these are my people.” His eyes bored into hers as he stepped back from her a fraction. “You are in far more danger.”
She waved her flower under his nose, lightly brushing it against his chest.
“Is that really why you led me here?”
His expression softened considerably as he held out a hand that she took without hesitation.
He took her to a hidden waterfall & watched as desire & fear chased each other across her face.
“What is it?”
It took her a moment to tear her eyes away from the water to look at him.
“That first day. We – we were heading to Mount Weather, just four of us. I jumped into a river & almost got eaten alive.”
He stepped closer, cupped her cheek with one hand & held her with a steady gaze. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
And as the certainty of that settled in her chest, she let him lead her to the water. When she cupped her hands & threw water in his face, he knew he’d made the right choice. He narrowed his eyes & Octavia, sensing that maybe that wasn’t her best idea, dove into the water to get away from him but this was his land & his secret spot & she didn’t have a prayer. He caught her waist & propelled her squirming body forward, surfacing when he thought she’d need air. He tickled her foot as she brushed past him & she splashed him reflexively as she tried to get away. He waited, watching for the moment she’d find her surprise. She stood slowly, advancing past the wall of water deeper into a small cave. He followed behind her. He watched her watch the water as she slowly moved her hand through it, leaving a trail of bioluminescence in its wake. She looked up at him, the movement sudden as if he was intruding on her privacy.
“Lincoln,” she whispered reverently. He answered her with a smile he was beginning to suspect was just for her, some long lost well of joy that she alone seemed to be able to tap. He swam in wide circles around her just so she could be surrounded by the colourful glow without having to do much at all.
All too soon, it was time to go & the Octavia he led out of the waterfall was a completely different creature from the one that followed him in. He handed her a towel before retrieving one for himself. When he stood to full height he was ambushed by a fierce hug & a swift kiss to his chest that stole his breath. “Thank you,” she said simply. He took her hand before she could move away &, never looking away from her face, kissed it.
~~~~
Lincoln’s eyes had been closed for the past 45 minutes – he needed to sleep – but the more time he spent with Octavia the less able he was to fall asleep without her. He’d been trying to picture the soothing landscapes he loved so much but that was interrupted by remembering the wonder on Octavia’s face when she took him by the hand to the butterfly field one night. In truth, he’d been there many times but it was never as beautiful to him as it was that night. But then, he’d been focused on the way emotion played across her face & how the glow of creatures seemed to pale beside the luminosity of her skin. Then he switched to the sea – the smell of the ocean & the caves his friends loved to explore there & before he knew it he wondering what it would feel like to hold her close with the vast ocean surrounding them. A lesser man would sigh in frustration but Grounders knew that unplanned sound could cost you your life. Lincoln simply opened his eyes & when his senses told him all was as it should be, packed a small bag & headed for their cave.
He entered soundlessly & lit a small torch. He reached into his bag, flipped to a clean page in his book & started sketching the last person he ever expected to have feelings for & the one person he was definitely supposed to avoid. He drew her from memory as he had last seen her – curled on her side, one leg thrown carelessly over his, breath slowly passing between her parted lips. His task complete, his eyes caressed her image.
“I didn’t leave any flowers for you,” he said without preamble.
He felt a pair of hands land softly on his shoulders before sliding around to wrap him up.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
His eyes closed as her lips landed softly on his head. He freed himself from her arms long enough to tug her into his lap. As his arms interlocked about her, she felt again like he was saving her life. Their eyes met & held for several heartbeats until Octavia began idly tracing delicate patterns on his face.
“This cave feels more like home than my house.”
And as the implication of that filled the tiny space, Octavia’s breath hitched & she became absolutely still. This man, who saved, & kept on saving, her life, had taught her that allegiances are not solely based on blood or people group. In the midst of a brutal war, he had taken the risk of being kind & in a heartbeat altered the course of both their lives. She closed the distance between them with a kiss that was brimming with her frustration at being unable to put the powerful, forbidden emotions bubbling beneath her skin into words. Lincoln cradled her to his chest before standing & laying her down on the furs by the fire. He pulled away from her for a moment & stared down at her face, reverence in his eyes. He placed a trail of tender kisses on her forehead, her cheek, her neck. Octavia moved to pull her shirt from her body but found her progress immediately obstructed. He flicked dark eyes to hers.
“Let me,” he stated. So she did.
Later, she curled up against him, ear pressed to his heart, hand tracing lazy circles on his chest. She felt secure & drowsy in Lincoln’s hold, who had one hand playing in the hair at the base of her scalp.
“What was keeping you awake?” he asked, apropos of nothing.
“A nightmare. Your people branded you a traitor & consigned you to death by a thousand cuts. I kept trying to reach you but I was too late.”
Lincoln wrapped his arms tighter around her & pressed her head back against his beating heart.
“I’m right here.”
He ran his hand in soothing circles on her back & kissed the top of her head.
“Sleep,” he commanded. & saturated with the warmth from his body & the reassurance of his pulse, she did just that.