InsaneJournal

Who: Stefan Salvatore and Bubbles
When: After this post
Where: His place
What: A cupcake delivery and Stefan confesses what he is.
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete


So, Stefan woke up completely confused. He’d had one of the weirder Dreams last night, and after amnesia, rediscovering he was a vampire, falling for Elena all over again, and then finding out that she was dating his brother? It was a bit more than a dude could take, really. He was not necessarily in a great place.

But then… Bubbles to the rescue. She offered to bring him cupcakes. And though Stefan didn’t need to eat to survive, he could appreciate the sentiment. She was pretty and friendly and kind. And sorta wonderful. Stefan’s feelings for her were probably more than they should have been. He had to tell her the truth about himself. About what he was.

He answered the door and broke into one of those strange, happy!Stefan smiles at the sight of her. “Hey.”

Bubbles didn't know the whole story, everything that happened in Stefan's dreams. It didn't actually matter, though. The fact was that he was upset and she hated to see people sad, especially people she'd gotten to know. Considering she had the choice of cupcakes, she went somewhere where she could choose what was in there rather than one that chose for you. She'd gone for a simple six. There were two vanilla, two chocolate, and two red velvet. Mostly because Bubbles wanted a red velvet cupcake. They were her main weakness.

She remembered the way to his house...or...well, the house where he lived. She put on her best hundred watt smile when Stefan answered the door, glad to see that he was smiling as well. "I come bearing cupcakes...in a fancy box." She had taken a moment to draw on the box with markers before coming. Maybe it was ridiculous, but he needed some happiness and if drawing on a cupcake box helped, Bubbles wasn't going to ignore that possibility. "There's a selection. I couldn't choose just one. And I didn't know if you'd like my favorite, so I just decided to pick three different kinds."

Asking Bubbles to choose the kind of cupcake(s) was a way to learn more about her. It was a little sneaky, but Stefan honestly didn’t care--had no preference on flavor. He was way more interested in what she’d choose. Lemon? He guessed maybe lemon was her thing. “Great.”

The man looked tired, but happy to see her. He stepped aside so she could come in, then motioned toward the kitchen and closed the door behind her. “Thank you, Bubbles. It was a pretty rough night.” He followed her into the kitchen, slipping his hands into his pockets. He didn’t want to have to tell her, but… he knew he had to. “I’m sure I would like your favorite. What kinds did you get?”

Lemon was nice, but much better in bar form. Lemon icing was okay. Still, it wasn't her favorite. Definitely red velvet. At least for cupcakes. She stepped inside and made her way into the kitchen, studying him quietly for a moment. He looked tired. She fought the urge to tell him to sit down and let her handle things. It was likely Blossom's influence mixed with her concern for him. She knew he wasn't physically injured, but emotional and mental things could be just as taxing and she didn't want him to worry too much about her being around if he needed some sleep. Still, she was here now, so she could try to make it a little better. Her dreams were different, filled with visions of her and her sisters fighting crime.

"It looks like it was," she said after a moment, a hint of concern in her eyes as she said it. "Hopefully you get some uninterrupted sleep soon." But she wasn't sure if that happened here. Not when she was already having dreams at an alarming rate. Some nights it was the same dreams and some nights, it was only part of a memory. She focused on his question, though. "Chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet." There was a moment of pause. "Red velvet is what I chose. It's the cream cheese icing, I think."

“Red velvet sounds perfect.” Stefan said, trying to look a little less tired, a little less haunted. It was going to be hard. His Dreams had been difficult for months now, not just because of his vampire traits and tendencies. Things were rough in Mystic Falls. Confusing. And Stefan really just wanted to take his mind off of things.

Thankfully, he had a pretty girl and delicious-looking cupcakes to distract him. He took a step forward to lean over and look in the box. “They look lovely. You want to sit? I’ve got hot water in the kettle for tea. Or hot chocolate or coffee. Whatever you’d like.” He pulled himself away from her to get some mugs from the cupboard and start filling them with hot water.

"It is a really good one." She smiled a little. "There's two of each, so if you want the other one, you can have it." She didn't mind. In fact, it would probably keep her from eating two cupcakes, which was really for the best. She had enough energy as it was without adding to it.

Offering him a smile, Bubbles took a seat at the table, trying to make a decision. Would she go with the hot chocolate or the tea? It wasn't really a question, it was more of a 'would she go with what she wanted or what she thought was probably the better choice' situation. "Well, hot chocolate is closest to milk." Sort of. It was just the one that she wanted the most. Her attention shifted from the cupcakes to watching Stefan again. She wondered what his dream world was like that he seemed so unhappy. It wasn't a constant unhappy. She'd seen him smile a lot. It was just an overall sense of his feelings when he talked about his dreams. "What are you going with?"

Stefan would absolutely save her from that fate. He pulled down a couple of plates down once the mugs of hot water were ready, and put cupcakes onto them. This domestic stuff wasn't completely foreign to Stefan. While he didn't need to eat or drink things, necessarily, he liked to keep up the human stuff. It made him feel more like a man and less like a monster.

"I'll have a hot chocolate, too." He said, and brought the cupcakes to the table. Then he made the hot chocolate, trying to form his words and his sentences carefully. "I wanted... well, there's something I should tell you about... about my Dreams." He brought the hot chocolate to the table, too, and took a seat opposite her.

Bubbles studied him a little closer, trying to read his body language as well as listen to his words. There was something that he needed to tell her about the dreams? She frowned for a moment, letting her gaze drop to the table. The way he spoke, it wasn't good. Maybe he was trusting her with the parts of the dreams that upset him. In order to keep him from feeling like he couldn't do that, she kept her expression a little more neutral. Bubbles wanted him to know that she was listening without making it seem like she was too concerned. A little concern was healthy when it came to friends, but if she looked too concerned, she was worried he might decide not to say what he wanted to say...and she wanted to be there for him, even if it was just with small things.

"Of course. Anything you have to say, you can say it." Under the table, she fidgeted a little with her dress, smoothing it more than a few times.

Stefan noticed the fidgeting. It was hard not to, when he was so focused on her every movement, her very being. He slid the hot chocolate and spoon to her, and the plate with her cupcake. Then he settled his own in front of him. The table and chairs had come from IKea. Stefan remembered how excited Anna had been when she'd picked them out.

He cleared his throat, bringing his hands to rest as casually as possible on the table. "Have you heard how things come through from the Dreams?" Surely she'd at least heard about it. "...people get gifts along with their memories?"

Bubbles nodded. "Yeah. I mean, that's where Octi came from." She'd heard about a few other things, people mentioning abilities that came through. It made her hope that she could get her superpowers from the dreams. She wanted to be able to fly or get laser beams that came out of her eyes. Well, that might be a little dangerous, but maybe it would be okay anyway. She was mostly excited about the part where she could fly and was stronger than she was now. "Did you get something from your dreams?" Because that seemed to be the only way that this conversation was going. But she wasn't really sure what he would have gotten that would make him so serious.

The fact that she’d received a gift from her Dreams was a slight relief--because he wouldn’t have to explain that part to her. Stefan took a deep breath, and finally met her eyes again. “On October first, the day I moved into this house with my friends, I woke up from a long night of Dreaming and I was transformed.” He was hesitant. He didn’t want to tell her this, but he knew he had to. She deserved to know if she was to make an informed decision about befriending him.

“I woke up a vampire.” The expression on his face was serious. Pleading. This wasn’t a joke. Stefan was telling her something about himself that made him vulnerable.

Transformed? Her brow furrowed as she listened to him talk. He was a vampire? Like in fictional stories? But he was so serious and so...she frowned at the expression on his face and the information in general. If he was telling the truth about this, she was going to have to figure out how to respond to this. "I..." She let out a small sigh as she tried to figure out what exactly to say and how to respond to the information. She didn't want to avoid him but she didn't know what to say about it at the same time.

But the fact was that the look on his face made her heart hurt just a little. "What does that mean? I mean...how..." She frowned again before shaking her head. "You're a vampire." But he'd gone out in the sunlight and he was eating food, which was confusing when you knew the stories about vampires. Some stories painted them as romantic creatures, but the majority agreed that vampires were dangerous. Stefan hadn't seemed dangerous to her no matter the number of times that they'd seen each other. Still, he'd told her. He was telling her because...well, she wasn't sure exactly. "You wouldn't...hurt me, would you?" The answer to that question was important. He hadn't hurt her so far, but if he was going to, she was going to have to know about that. And part of her really needed to talk to Blossom and Buttercup. Maybe even the Professor. He might have a better idea of how to approach this situation. She'd never really had to try to figure it out before. It meant that now it was a bit overwhelming, but she'd find a way to at least get through this conversation.

Her face was making all of those confused and surprised expressions that he'd been avoiding. Or, wanted to avoid. But this was necessary. A necessary evil. If he kept this from her for much longer, she might hold it against him when the truth finally came out. He liked Bubbles, he wanted to do right by her. And being honest was the first step.

Stefan had no idea what the rest of the steps were.

"No, no," he reached a hand over to touch her wrist. "I would never hurt you, Bubbles. I don't… I don’t hurt people. I live off the blood of animals in this world." He withdrew his hand quickly. “I just… I wanted you to know. It’s something I have to live with day by day.”

There was a nod at the words and she didn't pull her arm away immediately. It was when he mentioned the animals that she felt herself tear up, wondering if any of those animals had been ones they'd run into at the rehabilitation center. At any rate, she couldn't bring herself to eat meat since she was little and came to the understanding that animals died in order for her to eat them, which had resulted in a lot of crying on her part.

"Oh." Her voice was soft as she tried to keep herself from getting upset. It could have been humans, she supposed, but she still couldn't think about it. All those innocent little animals. They must have been just as scared. "Poor things."

Stefan could live off blood bags like so many of his friends did. But human blood was really bad for a Ripper. He was far more likely to lose control--and Stefan on human blood was a strong, predatory, unstable vampire. In order to protect the world he had to do what he had to do. That meant sometimes deer, rabbits, mountain lions… they paid the price.

He frowned at the look on her face. Guilt welled within him. “...so, I’ll understand if you want to stay away from me.” The unspoken tone was that if she did decide to stay away, he would be pretty upset. He didn’t want her to, but he’d understand if she did.

Bubbles closed her eyes. Thinking about the animals dying hurt and thinking about how sad Stefan sounded hurt. She needed Blossom and Buttercup. She didn't know what to say to Stefan right now. All she knew was that she needed to go somewhere and clear her head and then talk to her sisters and try to figure out what to do. "I...I..." She stood up quickly. "I need to think about everything. I'm sorry." She felt terrible for not even staying. She'd come here to make him feel better and she'd ended up making him and herself even more sad than either of them had been before. "I'm so sorry," she said again as she made her way toward the door.

“It’s okay.” Stefan was on his feet in an instant--supernaturally fast. Then he moved past Bubbles using his amazeballs vamp speed, and stopped her progress at the front door. “Please--” his words cut off as he fought with himself for a moment. He wanted her to stay. He wanted to explain himself better. He wanted this all to go away. Why couldn’t he just be a normal guy talking to a normal girl? Without those damn Dreams this would be by far an easier conversation. He could ask her out. He could hold her hand. He could be close to her without wanting to eat her.

“If you want to talk… You know where to find me.” He added, almost lamely, and then opened the door for her.

Bubbles' eyes widened as Stefan moved past him and she stopped almost instantly. She stared at him quietly for a moment, frowning at his expression, at the word. She wanted to say that it was fine, that everything was okay, but she couldn't focus. She needed fresh air, her sisters, and maybe even the Professor. Mostly, she just needed to figure out how to deal with everything that was happening right now and she couldn't do that with Stefan looking at her the way he was.

"I know." She drew in a shakey breath and paused just before walking out the door, she turned to look at him. Bubbles opened her mouth to say something before she closed it and shook her head. After a moment, she said, "Goodbye, Stefan."

“Bye, Bubbles.” Stefan said. He watched her go, then stood awkwardly in the doorway for a long moment going over everything they’d just said and done, and trying to figure out all the mistakes he’d just made. How he could have done things differently. Then he sighed, resigned that he would never see that beautiful girl again, and turned to head back inside.