Who: Stefan Salvatore, Bubbles, Agent Washington and Anna of Arendelle When: Early December, just as the snow started to fall Where: Out to dinner What: Double Date! Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
In the texting that had transpired, preparing for this double-date, Stefan and Wash figured they’d each pick up their respective girls (even though Stefan and Anna lived in the same house and very well could have driven together) and meet at the restaurant. So Stefan popped over to Bubbles’ house and picked up his girlfriend, then brought her with him to the restaurant. The plan was to eat a quick bite first, then walk next door to the mini golf place.
This place was amazing. There were black light rooms where they could play mini golf, and laser tag, and a snack bar with probably the world’s best ice cream. Stefan had been here a few times in the past, but he was very much looking forward to going with Bubbles, Wash, and Anna. They could get out of the snow and play for a while indoors.
Stefan climbed out of the car with Bubbles and they had to hurry into the pizza place to get out of the snow. He held the door open for her, then brushed some little flakes from his hair.
Bubbles was pretty excited to have another double date. She liked being able to spend time with Stefan’s friends and she was especially happy because it meant spending some more time with Anna. Bubbles loved Anna! Anna was great! She also couldn’t really complain about pizza. As long as there was no meat on it. She couldn’t eat meat. She wouldn’t make anyone else abstain on her account, but she just couldn’t do it. Especially not now that she could talk to them.
She walked as quickly as she could to stay out of the snow, laughing a little as she walked inside. “You’re Snefan,” she said, trying to keep from laughing. “Snow Stefan,” was added as a bit of clarification. She reached out for his hand before looking around for Anna.
It had been sometime since Wash had been on a double date and it was good to finally get to meet Bubbles. He remembered how Stefan had agonized over telling her what he was and urging him to not let a good thing slip through his grasp. He was happy it had all worked out for his friend. Stefan was a good guy and he deserved to be happy.
Wash and Anna had arrived a little early. Wash was nothing if not punctual to a fault. Usually. It was one of the many habits as Marine that he just couldn’t seem to shake. There were other habits as well such as periodically scanning a room, checking where the exits were and keeping his back to a wall. Things Wash did on instinct without even thinking. Since he was keeping an eye on the doors, Wash saw Stefan as he and Bubbles came in the door. He raised a little out of his seat to wave them over.
Okay, so this was the life that Anna had always wanted; going out with friends for pizza and laser tag, making out with her boyfriend in his van, still getting straight As in school and being back in touch with her practically estranged sister. Things were so good for the redhead, she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Besides enjoy it. It felt like this was the end of a really good movie--where all the protagonists were happy and riding off into the sunset. But real life didn’t end like movies did. Now Anna had to figure out what to do with herself. This was the happy ending that didn’t end. Now what?
She broke into a grin when she saw Bubbles and Stefan come in. She raised a hand to wave them over.
Stefan saw Wash and Anna almost instantly. The red hair with the white streak was a giveaway--as was the former marine with his back to the wall. Stefan knew that position all too well--he’d been stationed with marines in his course as a corpsman. It was familiar, and comfortable.
Stefan’s hand tightened around Bubbles’. “Snefan, huh?” He couldn’t help but smirk. “I suppose I’ll take it. Just don’t go spreading it around.” He leaned in to tap a kiss against her temple, then tugged Bubbles to the table where Wash and Anna were.
Anna jumped up to give Bubbles a big hug.
Bubbles spotted them and a big grin worked its way across her face. It softened a little as Stefan kissed her temple. “I’m going to tell everyone. Starting with Damon.” She lasted only a few seconds before she started laughing. She had no real intention of telling anyone about ‘Snefan’. She might have told Anna, but Anna was mostly harmless and that probably would only happen when they’d had a little too much to drink and were far too amused by themselves. Bubbles wasn’t very good at secrets when she was drunk...or tipsy, really.
When Anna came over to hug her, she smiled again, jumping up and down a little. “Hello!!!!” She peeked over Anna’s shoulder at Wash and waved. “Hello, Wash! It is Wash, right?”
“Yeah, it’s Wash,” the former Marine said, waving back slightly. Bubbles’ smile was infectious and it was impossible for him not to smile a little bit himself. He was glad that Stefan seemed to have given Bubbles his preferred name. He had explained how David had become Wash so often over the past year or so that he could probably do it in his sleep.
“It’s good to finally meet you,” he said as he offered Bubbles his hand in greeting. “Stefan’s told me a lot about you.”
Anna released Bubbles from the hug so she could meet Wash. It was important to Anna that everyone meet Wash. She could understand if other people were concerned about certain things where their relationship was concerned--he was older, he was a vet, he had alcohol issues. But Anna loved him. And in her mind that was all that mattered.
“Only good things,” Stefan grinned, watching his friends all together. Well, not all of his friends, obviously, but some of the most important ones. Anna, his roommate, and Bubbles, his girlfriend, already got along like peas in a pod. Stefan could imagine the four of them spending a lot of time together.
“Should we get some pizza? I hope you brought your laser tag A-game.” Stefan asked, motioning toward the table.
Bubbles’ smile grew brighter when she shook Wash’s hand. His smile may not have been as strong as hers or Anna’s, but that reminded her a little bit of Stefan when she first met him. He’d been a lot more brooding then. She decided almost immediately that she liked Wash. If Anna and Stefan liked him, then he was absolutely wonderful in her book.
She glanced over at Stefan. “Well, it’s hard to tell bad things about me because I am the cutest. Right?” She lightly bumped him, taking care not to bump too hard even if she had a feeling he could handle it. “I’ve heard good things about you, too. Both of them talk about you all the time.” She grinned. “Yes! Pizza!” She looked up at Stefan before looking out at Anna and Wash. “This is going to be SO great!”
Wash wasn’t really a smiler. Anna’s smile was bright and contagious enough for the two of them. And, yes, Bubbles was cute. Adorable even, both in looks and in personality. Wash could easily see how Stefan had become so smitten with her. She and Anna seemed like two peas in a pod as well.
Wash glanced at Anna and then at Stefan. “All the time?” He asked with a joking smirk. Anna talking about him made sense. They were in the honeymoon stages of their relationship. But Stefan? Aww, that was cute. “Yeah, let’s get the pizza first. Any preferences?” He asked as he reclaimed his seat against the wall. He knew Bubbles was a vegetarian, so anything with meat was out, which was fine. A pizza was a perfect food. You could have it so many ways and a pizza with veggies was just as delicious.
Anna went bright pink. She’d talked about Wash well before they were in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. At least, to Bubbles. Okay, to Stefan, too. She’d known for a long time now that she was smitten. This was sort of like a Dream come true for her.
“Um… I really like mushrooms. Does that make me weird?” Anna asked. “And, of course, I have to get a Root Beer. This place has the best Root Beer ever.” She didn’t even bother looking at a menu. “Extra cheese, too?”
Stefan glanced at Bubbles with a conspiratory smirk. “That you are.” Because no one could deny that Bubbles was freaking adorable. It was just… part of her thing. In her DNA. He turned his attention to Wash, and shrugged his shoulders. Hey, he talked about his friends sometimes. And they’d been spending so much time on the Warthog lately? It made sense. “I’ll eat anything,” he added. (Har har.)
Bubbles nodded at the question. “All the time.” She tried not to smile too much when she caught sight of Anna’s face. She thought it was cute, though. She wondered if she was as bad with Stefan. Did she talk about him a lot, too? Probably. Either way, she was almost certain everyone would forgive her. Being cute meant that she got away with a lot of things.
“Mushrooms do not make you weird. Broccoli does. I’m good with extra cheese and peppers! Please.” She probably could have done with all kinds of veggies. “Maybe we can just see what the veggie pizza has on it and just get that. Unless there are things on it that people don’t like.” She took a seat, pulling Stefan into the seat next to her. “Oh. The rootbeer is good?” She laughed a little. “Remember the best rootbeer floats ever?”
“I agree with Bubbles,” Wash answered giving Anna a smirk, his arm resting lightly on the back of her chair. “Mushrooms on a pizza makes sense. Broccoli on the other hand. No, that does not make sense.” He reached for one of the menus on the table to take a look at how this restaraunt defined a supreme. “Neither does pineapple for that matter,” he commented, wrinkling his nose a little at the Hawaiian pizza on the menu. “Ah, ok. They have a supreme, which has mushrooms, onions, peppers, olives and tomatoes…” he glanced up as the girls started talking about rootbeer floats. Then over at Stefan, a brow raised. “Best rootbeer floats ever?”
Anna laughed. “Of course I remember! We should have a repeat of that night.” It’d be so much fun! The pajamas and the popcorn, and, of course, getting drunk off hard root beer floats! “Hey! We should watch some Christmas Cartoons or something! Get in the spirit! Maybe wrap presents? Oooh, maybe we should have hard hot chocolate instead!”
Stefan smirked softly. “Bubbles and Anna like to drink girly drinks and get all giggly.” He explained to Wash. “They have sleepovers and do each other’s hair and nails and whatever else it is girly girls do when they have sleepovers.” He was only partly teasing. It was all said with a smirk on his lips and joy in his heart. It meant a lot to him to that Bubbles and Anna got along so well. And Caroline, too. All his best girls were good friends. What more could he ask for?
“Pineapple is the beeeesssssst. But yes, not on pizza.” Bubbles laughed a little. “Oh. The supreme sounds good, then! Let’s do that one!” Because Bubbles did, in fact, love veggies. Pretty much all of them. Except broccoli. She pressed the back of her hand over her mouth as she started laughing again while Stefan explained what it was that they did.
“Watch Disney movies and lean on each other when our sides hurt from laughing. That’s what we do.” She clapped her hands at Anna’s idea, though. “Yes! Either way! But the hot chocolate will definitely be warmer.” She looked over at Wash and then Stefan. “Do you want to come??”
“Uhhm…” Wash started and glanced at Stefan and Anna. He could do a night watching Disney movies (he was going to have to considering he was dating an actual Disney Princess and Wash hadn’t exactly watched a lot of Disney growing up) and watching the girls laugh themselves silly. It was the drinks he was a little uneasy about. The temptation to drink was still there and would probably always be there. Anna and Stefan would probably understand, but Wash wanted to make a good impression on Bubbles. The last thing Stefan needed was for his girlfriend to think his buddy was a lush. “I don’t want to get in the way.”
Anna was beaming brightly. The look on Wash’s face did very little to make her smile falter. But she understood why it was there. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, lacing her fingers through his. “It’s okay. We don’t have to drink hard hot chocolate. We can have regular hot chocolate!” Anna glanced over at Bubbles. “With extra marshmallows!”
“Count me in. You know, I like watching Disney movies now that I don’t work there anymore.” Stefan shrugged his shoulders, then closed his menu and lifted a hand to flag down a waiter. He ordered a large Supreme pizza, and a round of Cokes for the whole table. “...Bubbles, do you want a salad?” He added, not wanting to miss something if she’d wanted to order one.
Bubbles noted the shift in the room and she glanced over at Stefan quickly for a moment before reaching over to rest a hand on his arm. She gave him a quick, apologetic look before saying, “Exactly. We can just have regular hot chocolate with extra marshmallows. Or maybe even whipped cream if you like that better. The Disney movies are the most important part of it anyway. And being with friends.” She nodded before withdrawing her hand. She might not have exactly known what it was that had changed the mood, but she knew it was something on her part and it involved not drinking. But she didn’t want to assume.
Stefan’s question shifted her attention from Wash back to her boyfriend and she smiled. “I’m good with just the pizza. We’ll work off the calories with laser tag.”
Wash had a brief moment of this is your life now, Washington. Disney movies and all things cute and adorable. And he was surprised at just how fine he was with this revelation. He gave Bubbles an appreciative smile. “Thanks,” he said. “Extra chocolate and whipped cream would be great. You can count me in too.” He needed to become versed in Disney movies anyway. For Anna.
“You know,” Wash went on, hoping to shift the conversation away from his unintended bring-down. “I’ve never actually done laser tag before.”
Anna pretty much grew up on Disney Movies. Even before she found out that she pretty much was one. So this was all a good thing. Best friends, movies, hot chocolate… well, anything chocolate. She leaned against Wash a little, a comforting presence, and nodded. “I think maybe we should start at the beginning and work our way through the ages. Don’t you think? Start with Snow White, move on from there?”
Stefan was busy finishing up with the waiter. It wouldn’t be long for their pizza--this wasn’t one of those deep dish, gourmet places. But it wasn’t an “it’s under a heat lamp, you want that to go?” kind of a place, either. Somewhere in the middle. Stefan turned back to the conversation right about the time Snow White was brought up. “...no. Veto,” he said, shaking his head. Now his hand was free of menus (passed to the waiter who’d taken their order) he took hold of Bubbles’ under the table. “Some of those old Disney movies are so boring. I’m sorry. Dumbo? Pinnochio? Snoresville.” He gave Bubbles a smirk. Only half kidding. Some of those movies were really dull.
“Never done laser tag?” For a moment, Bubbles was completely confused. “Laser tag is THE BEST! Almost as great as karaoke. Have you don’t Karaoke?” She gave him her most serious expression, like this was one of the most important things she’d ever asked someone in her life. It wasn’t really, but in this moment, it felt important.
After a moment, she was returned her attention to the Disney movies. “Just for that, we’re starting with Snow White and watching Dumbo and Pinnochio. You just punished yourself, Stefan. Punished yourself.” She nodded sagely before shooting a smile at Anna. “And we definitely have to watch Atlantis. It’s the best!”
“Uhhh,” Wash blinked. “No, I’ve never done karaoke. Is that weird?” Then came the absolutely horrifying thought of doing a karaoke night with the four of them. Up there, stone cold sober, singing with a bar full of drunk people staring at him? Wash would have rather done another tour in Afghanistan. He looked at Anna with wide eyes. “I can’t sing.”
The fear of public singing was set aside when he heard Bubbles tell Stefan their Disney night was starting with the classics. It sounded totally legit to him and he smirked across the table at his friend. “Why would you say that, dude? Especially at a table with two experts. That’s like asking to watch the entire back catalogue.”
Anna almost gasped at the idea of Karaoke. That sounded like so much fun! At the same time, it was hard to imagine Karaoke without Caroline there. The last couple of times she’d gone had been with Care, and it was hard for her to imagine going without her. But then again, singing for Wash was a pretty attractive prospect, too. She grinned at the look on his face. “It’s okay. You don’t have to sing.” She wouldn’t make him. Actually, Karaoke without the drinking didn’t seem like it’d be nearly as much fun. “We’ll just cuddle up and watch all the Disney movies.”
Stefan had no doubt that Wash was going to be amazing at laser tag. How could he not? Maybe he had a little too much faith in his friend. Something must have been in the air or the water, because Stefan was having a wonderful time. Being out with some of his best friends and his girlfriend was pretty magic.
He wasn’t, however, looking forward to those early Disney cartoons. He’d seen them on the big screen as a vampire in his Dreams. And he wasn’t looking forward to the revisit. “You’re right. Kick me next time I’m about to say something so stupid.” He grinned at Wash.
“Karaoke is THE BEST!!!!” Bubbles sang the last part, laughing to herself. But she wouldn’t make anyone do anything they weren’t comfortable with. Especially when he was pretty obviously not into it. It was fine. She could do karaoke with other people and he could be part of other things.
“You really did do this to yourself.” Bubbles pat his arm lightly, doing her best not to smile. “But it’s okay. You’ll survive and I’ll make it up to you later.” But for now, pizza! Bubbles clapped her hands when it showed up. “Yay pizza!”
“I’ll take a night of watching Disney movies over publically embarrassing myself,” Wash said with a smile. His arm around Anna tightened in a quick squeeze and a kiss on her forehead. Then he turned a grin towards Stefan. “There are fates worse than Disney,” he told his friend. “But don’t worry, buddy, I got your back. Next time I’ll give you a good swift kick to the shin.”
The pizza arrived piping hot and Wash let go of Anna to help himself to a slice. He had to admit, he was having a great time. He still wasn’t so sure about laser tag, if he’d really be any good, but it was fun getting to hang out with Anna and their friends. It was…normal and Wash would take it.