Strings of Fate

93- Blindness and bubbles “Leaving you alone is worse.” he confirms.

“Well, then keep your eyes shut while I'm in the bath and you can stay.” | suggest. He tilts his head to the side.

“You're willing to letstay?” He repeats in confirmation. | nod.

“If you close your eyes. | know you don’t love that part, but it’s the best compromise | can offer. Decide before the water gets cold please.” Bellamy’s eyes dart around the room. His eyes land on the window. Like most bathrooms, it's a small window that isn’t easily accessed. | doubt it’s even visible from outside. Appearing to make a decision, he marches towards the door. Huh, he’s leaving? Or not. He reaches the door, locks it then sits himself on the ground. with his back against the door and closes his eyes.

“I won't look. | promise.” he assures me. | quickly strip out of my clothes and chuck them on the floor by the vanity. The water is hot, but comfortable when I climb in, clutching the edges of the tub to prevent myself from falling. | can’t help but glance over at Bellamy. | do trust him to keep his eyes shut, but | still feel weirdly paranoid about it. | settle down into the water, careful to keep my bandages dry and on the edge of the bath.

The bubbles easily reach my chin. The warmth immediately begins to seep intoand I can’t help but let out a groan of relief. The adrenaline rush that | must have been experiencing earlier is finally starting to fade now that | feel safe. I'm a little awkward having Bellamy in here, but not enough to burst my bubble of bliss right now. | look over at him and he looks... uncomfortable. The tile floor is probably cold and not so nice to sit on. He's still sitting with his back to the door and his eyes closed, but he has his legs pulled up and is hugging them into his chest. His head is tilted back against the door.

“You're going to hurt your neck sitting like that.” | comment. He groans and sits up straighter, rolling and cracking his neck. He starts fiddling with his string bracelet, twirling it around his wrist over and over.

“You're right.” He admits.

“You look really uncomfortable.” | add. He just shrugs at that.

1/4 93- Blindness and bubbles “I don’t mind. Do you want to talk or would you rather have your bath in peace and pretend I'm not here?” he asks. | can’t help but laugh.

“Bellamy, | don’t think I could ever successfully pretend you aren’t around, especially not in a situation like this.

It will still be peaceful if we're talking as long as we don’t argue or bicker too much.” | assure him. That pulls a smile from him.

“I'll be on my best behaviour. Do you... do you want to talk about what happened tonight?” He asks cautiously.

Huh? “I already told you what happened didn’t 1?” | ask.

“No, well, yes. But that’s not what | mean. You toldwhat happened, but not how you feel about it all. You also probably have questions about how | reacted. | understand if you don’t want to talk about it all yet, but you definitely should at spoint. If not withthen with Megan or Darrien. Aaron would be acceptable to talk with as well. | suppose you could talk to the Incubus if you felt you had to.” He adds reluctantly at the end. | can't resist the urge to laugh.

your “I really don’t know what problem is with him. His powers haven't influencedin years which means he’s just a guy friend. You don’t have a problem with Aaron or Darrien.” 1 point out. Bellamy sighs.

“I know them, it’s different. | know they respectand our relationship and wouldn't do anything against it.

They support us. The Incubus is your friend, but he isn’t mine. If you ask him for advice he’s not going to have the scontext or knowledge about Shifters and he won't care about my feelings when talking to you. It also worriesthat he’s known you longer than | have. That's something | can never win. There are times that he got to be your friend and be there for you when | wasn’t and it’s hard to forget that.” “He and | were close as children, but until we met up by accident that first twhen | was with you, | hadn't seen or spoken to him in years. He's more like a sibling or cousin than a friend.” | wonder if there's a way | can help Bellamy feel more comfortable about my relationship with Harry. | feel like a significant part of the problem is that all he really knows about Harry is that he’s an Incubus. Maybe it would help if he actually got to know him better as a person rather than as a vague figure. | suspect his imagination is far worse than anything that could actually be happening.

+ 2/4 93- Blindness and bubbles “How would you feel about hanging out with Harry sometime? Like we could all go do something together as a group. You might feel better if you knew and trusted him a bit.” | suggest. | look over to see Bellamy’s reaction.

He doesn’t look thrilled, but | don’t think he’s instantly rejecting the idea either.

“Maybe.” he answers reluctantly. Well, that’s good enough for me. Ill chat with Harry later and see what he thinks. Actually, | have barely looked at my phone today. | should really check the group chat at spoint. | keep forgetting. I'm not used to actually having one friend to keep up with, much less a whole group of them.

Actually, while I'm thinking about it, | don’t think | have ever seen Bellamy hanging with someone socially, other than myself and Megan that is.

“Bellamy, do you actually have friends?” | ask bluntly. As | say it, | realise that it sounds.

vaguely insulting.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. | just meant that | haven't really seen you hanging out with anyone and you haven't mentioned any other friends. You're not exactly a shy person so I just thought it was odd that you haven't talked about anyone...” | trail off. Bellamy sighs.

“I'm honestly not sure anymore. | used to have friends, but when my parents passed and | becAlpha basically overnight, everything changed. All my friends were Shifters and all my relationships becso...

formal. | used to hang out with Shaun, Aaron and Alex occasionally. There's a reason | picked them to be your guards after all, | trust them. But 1 don’t know how to act around them. The dominant part ofdemands their respect and obedience, those aren’t things that work too well in a friendship. Aside from being Alpha | also inherited the security company that they all work for so | bectheir boss as well. The whole dynamic is just off. It created a distance between us and | haven't managed to find a new balance for it.” he explains. Well that makes ssense | suppose.

“What about Darrien?” | ask. Bellamy shakes his head.

“He only moved here a few years back, I didn’t know him that well until recently. He becMegan's guard because he requested the position and Shaun vouched for him.” “Oh, right. | forgot about that. I do think you should try and spend swith those guys. though. They're all really great and super loyal to you. | suspect more of the friendship is 3/4 93- Blindness and puppies intact than you realise. As you said, you're the one with the power in the group, they're naturally going to follow your lead. If you step back and treat them formally they're going to do the same. So it stands to reason that if you relax with them a bit more then they will likely do the same.” | suggest. Bellamy slowly nods.