Bellarke One Shots Book 2

92) Ark Pet Shop

Archive of our own
By: wanderinglilly
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Clarke Griffin meets Bellamy Blake when he shows up with a turtle during her shift at the pet store.

She's in the last hour of her shift, not even at the front of the store, but rather checking up on the puppies, because she loves puppies and it serves as practice for her upcoming degree as a veterinarian.

But anyway, she hears the doorbell ring, and when she reaches the counter, there's a dark-skinned, curly haired man holding a baby turtle in a recipient half-filled with water. Huh, Clarke thinks, cute.

"How can I help you?" she asks, peeking over the recipient's edge to look at the turtle. It's swimming about in the water, looking like the world's most content turtle.

"I found this little guy abandoned in a pond near my building." He explains, smiling fondly at the turtle. There are freckles all over his cheeks, which makes the sight even more unfair. Clarke almost isn't a little annoyed that he showed up nearly at her shift's end. He looks up and coughs, the smile a little more forced. "Anyway, I was wondering if there are some tanks you could show me for him? I'm planning on keeping him."

Clarke nods, walking around the counter and signaling for him to follow. When they get there, he starts asking lots of questions, like which one she thinks would be most comfortable for his turtle, or if the one he's taking is too big. Clarke answers good-naturedly, because he's either very concerned with the suitableness of the terrarium, or his fake-earnest look is really good. Somehow, Clarke's inclined to believe the first option.

Twenty minutes later, he leaves with a moderately sized tank, a water filter and a bunch of adornments, amongst which stands a tiny castle. "You're going to be the king." He tells the turtle as they leave the store, and Clarke can't help but be charmed.

Next time is noon of the next day, and he's wearing jeans and a plaid shirt that look very good on him.Clarke, she tells herself, do not ogle your clients. There's a backpack on his shoulder that makes Clarke wonder if he's a college student.

"Hey again" he greets, walking over to where she's sorting dog leashes. "I left yesterday and didn't even buy food for Timmy, do you happen to have turtle food?" he asks, scratching at the back of his neck with evident embarrassment.

In response, Clarke hums, standing up to walk over the respective aisle, when she picks up on the turtle's name. "Timmy?" she asks, curious.

"It's actually Timeous." He clarifies. Clarke stops to turn around and watch him. "My sister called me a nerd and refused to call him that, so she nicknamed him Timmy."

"You named your pet turtle after the narrator of a cosmogonic dialogue?" she asks in utter disbelief. He shrugs, nodding, and Clarke can't believe it: there is no such thing as an attractive nerd.

Well, her brain provides, there's Raven.

And it's a fair point. "Dude," she says anyway, staring at him. "And your sister let you get away with it? Do you realize the emotional damage you've caused Timmy? All the other turtles are going to laugh at him every time he introduces himself."

She sounds unbelievably stupid, but he smiles a little bit more with every passing word, and yeah, Clarke's willing to sound stupid if he's going to smile at her like that. "He'll introduce himself as Timmy." He replies. "And I was on my way back from the pet shelter when she found out. The registration was already finished." He explains, pulling forth his backpack to extract a paper from a folder. It's an adoption certificate, with the word "dog" crossed out and replaced by "turtle" in messy handwriting. At the very bottom stand two signatures, one Monty Green, apparently the shelter manager, and Bellamy Blake, whom she assumes is the man standing before her.