WHO:Blossom & Caroline WHEN: Last week WHERE: Caroline and Peeta's place WHAT: Blossom gets to meet Sonic and the girls talk boys and vampires. RATING/WARNINGS: None STATUS: Complete
Living with Peeta had been seamless. She spent so much time at his place before the move that they practically lived together anyway. Now they had an apartment together. Bigger than the one Peeta had before but in the same complex, two bedrooms, instead of just one. They were mostly settled now, all the unpacking done. It was just a matter of getting everything organized to Carolineâs liking (except the kitchen that was Peetaâs domain) and doing the finishing touches with the decorating.
Even though the place wasnât completely done yet Caroline still loved showing it to her friends. And her new pet, because he was the most adorable thing ever. Today Blossom was coming over and Caroline couldnât wait. By the time there was a knock on the door Caroline had already set out some baked goods Peeta had brought home from work. Sonic was in his cage in the living room waiting to meet his new friend. Caroline opened the cage and picked the little guy up before opening the door. âHey!â she greeted Blossom. âCome on in,â she added taking a step back to her friend could enter, Sonic nestled in her free hand. He was just so tiny.
âI brought you a succulent.â Blossom had it all prepared, in itâs little pot with the right soil and a ribbon around it, tied in a bow at the front (or what sheâd decided was the front). âI already put it in a pot with a drainage hole, you just need a plate to settle it on,â it was a pretty little green one too, Blossom thought it was perfect to go with the soft peach/green succulent. âJust soak it once every few days.â
Succulents were likely far less interesting than hedgehogs though. âAnd arenât you just the cutest thing there ever was?â Honestly, Blossom would not have thought of a hedgehog for a pet, but actually it made sense. The poor things probably got scared witless out in the great outdoors. âHave you named him yet?â
âThatâs so sweet!â Caroline said shutting the door behind Blossom. The whole vampire thing gave her great reflexes so she was able to accept the plant with one hand. âThank you! You mind holding him while I get a plate?â she asked handing Sonic over so she could go find a plate. âHeâs a little prickly,â she added before turning and heading for the kitchen. A regular plate would do right? She could look into getting something to match later.
âSonic,â Caroline called in response to Blossomâs question. âSuper obvious right? I let Peeta pick out the name.â But it was a classic and fitting. Plate in hand she walked back out into the living room area setting the plant down on an end table next to the couch. âThere,â Caroline said standing back to admire the succulent. âIt looks great,â she added and it didnât sound super high maintenance from what Blossom had said. She could probably keep it alive.
âHave a seat,â she nodded to the couch and the coffee table with cupcakes and cookies set out. âAnd help yourself. Benefits of living with a baker,â she laughed. âYou want anything to drink? We have water, soda, beer, wine.â They had already taken their first trip to the grocery store and were stocked up on things now. Although all Caroline really needed was blood but that was kept in the minifridge in their bedroom.
The hedgehog was this mix of prickly and cute, a matter of working out just how to hold the animal version of a cactus really. âSonic is so very fitting, why change the classics?â At least they didnât seem to want to spray paint him blue though, that might be going a little too far. âWhat made you guys decide to get a hedgehog?â
A puppy she could see, or a cat, some bunnies maybe. Hedgehogs didnât tend to be pet-pets. More like âI rescued this animal from the back garden where a cat was playing with itâ sort of pets. Which was just as okay as getting a pet.
âOh, I donât know how you manage to not balloon! Iâd be the size of a house.â Because they looked delish. Sitting herself down, pressing her knees together to lay Sonic on while stroking a finger along his spikes to brush them back without poking herself, Blossom just grinned, âWater is fine, thanks.â She might need it to wash down the mountain of baking she planned on consuming the moment one of her hands were free.
No they would not be dying him blue. Thatâd be overkill. And it wasnât like they got a hedgehog to remake Sonic the Hedgehog or anything. The names as just fitting. âI saw a guy giving him away on campus and couldnât resist,â Caroline replied grabbing two bottles of water out of the fridge. âI probably should have asked Peeta first, but he seemed happy about it surprise and all. Now he totally loves the little guy,â Caroline laughed as she brought the waterâs over placing them both on coffee table for now.
âItâs a dream thing,â she would never look any different than she did right now, no matter how much she ate. Although she honestly didnât eat that much. Despite having it around all the time. Sure she occasionally got cravings for it, but probably not even half as much if she was human. Maybe now was a good time to tell Blossom what she was too. Her sister probably already knew because of Stefan. But it was still odd for Caroline to actually tell people. She never knew how theyâd take it.
âI read somewhere that it helps to maintain cohesion in the home if both parties are in agreement about new additions or changes,â of course maybe if Caroline and her boyfriend were that settled, Peeta might not mind whatever made Caroline happy. Especially when it was as adorable as the little hedgehog on her lap right then.
âLike, you work it off in the dreams? Or is it a metabolism thing from them? I think Buttercup is a little like that, but it might just be all the working out she gets.â Since Butts was a fighter in general, her activity levels were way more than Blossom and Bubblesâ put together. But it was what Buttercup liked. âShe burns it off a hell of a lot quicker than anyone else I know.â It would make sense at least. âMaybe with dream-crime fighting, weâll be like that too!â
Caroline nodded. That made total sense to her. But she was pretty sure if Peeta didnât want the hedgehog he would have said so and she would have accepted that. But when she had brought the little guy home he seemed both amused and happy. Then he sprang into action on what they needed to do to take good care of him.
Then she laughed as Blossom went on about metabolism and super hero dreams. âThatâd be pretty cool if that happens,â Caroline agreed happily. She wanted to ask more about Blossomâs super powers but first, she got more serious. âIâm actually not human.â Hopefully that didnât scare Blossom too much. âThe dreams sort of changed me.â Well not sort of. They did, but still.
âOh,â it sobered Blossom a little, a small frown on her features. âSo like⌠not human, what does that mean, like⌠Iâm coming up blank on examples because I donât want to offend you.â Blossomâs dreams consisted of being made in a lab explosions, she wasnât sure she was the best to really offer up examples of non-human lifeforms. Her first dream revolved around monkey-thing turning everyone into dog-people. She still wasnât entirely sure just what Mojo-Jojo was.
Really though, the dreams did weird things, and if it did turn Caroline into a non-human, well, it wasnât like she didnât start as a human, possibly. And either way, it just added to Blossomâs theory that theyâd get powers from these dreams eventually too. âIs it⌠a bad non-human? Because, I really donât get bad-non-human vibes from you. Other than the shoe obsession, but everyone likes shoes.â
Caroline wouldnât be offended with any of Blossomâs guesses. Especially since she didnât get the bad-non-human vibes from her. Caroline didnât think her guesses would be that horrible with that mentality. âIf loving shoes makes me a bad-non-human than Iâm probably evil,â she joked before getting more serious once again. âBut I guess you could classify me as a bad thing,â Caroline said beginning to ramble. âI mean Iâm not bad, but like itâs not thought of as necessarily a good thing. Like if I was a superhero like you or even a witch or something. Iâm actually a vampire, but I donât hurt anyone.â She rushed that last part out making sure Blossom knew she was safe. âI mostly drink from blood bags.â Gross to think about but it was how Caroline survived.
â....vampire?â Okay, Blossom was officially stumped. Up until super recently she wasnât even convinced that supernatural things existed. Blossom was the logical sort, her dad was a scientist, they examined things from the logical point of view that every hypothesis should be examined and tested to find a success or failure. There was no shame in failing to find the right answer, but an answer was almost always found.
Vampires didnât really work into that view, but suddenly now Blossom had heard of two people being vampires. âOkay, but⌠you were at the mall, and itâs sunny right now. So, is that whole sunlight thing a myth?â A myth, you know, like vampires were? âI mean, presumably the blood drinking, living forever thing is⌠well a thing?â
Blossom wasnât so much weirded out, or even all that worried. She was just curious.
Blossom seemed to be taking it okay. Most people did. Caroline still couldnât help but be worried. But still she hoped that once people knew her they would know what kind of person she was. That she really wouldnât hurt anyone. That was why she waited to tell people what she wast. Plus it wasnât exactly the best opener.
âItâs not,â Caroline responded honestly. âI have this ring that keeps me from bursting into flames,â without it she couldnât go out on the sunlight. âOnly some of the vampires in my dreams have them. You have to have this special stone and a witch has to cast a spell on it specifically for you.â So it wasnât like someone could steal her ring and it would work for them. She wasnât sure if Blossom wanted to know all that, but she had asked about the sun. âYeah, Iâm basically immortal,â the sun could kill her, obviously. She had just said that. There were a few other things, stake to the heart, decapitation, fire, and werewolf bite. âAnd I do need blood to survive,â she frowned at that but she had already explained about the blood bags she didnât think she needed to again. She hoped not.
It seemed fairly reasonable, all things considered. What you sort of read about vampires seemed to translate over, although the witch spelled stone likely made things much easier for people. Or not people, for vampires.
âOkay,â she wasnât entirely sure what to do with the information, although she did understand now why Bubbles felt the need to sit and process this for a while. It seemed a little different hearing about it herself rather than just understanding that Bubbles knew someone who was like that. âI really donât think Iâd have ever suspected you could hurt anyone anyway.â Because Caroline was just a really great, sweet and nice person, and Blossom liked her. She had a hedgehog for a pet. Blossom doubted sheâd have really worried about Caroline hurting people even if she wasnât reiterating about the blood.
âHow long have you been a vampire?â
Caroline had actually bitten people before. On accident. when she had first turned, but had always managed to stopped before any serious damage was done. And then there had been the time before Peeta knew what she was when she was too embarrassed to feed in front of him and had starved herself, he had seen her face change and offered his blood though, that was different. And again she hadnât done enough to really hurt him. But she wasnât going to tell Blossom any of that no need to worry her because she did have it under control.
âAbout a year and a half. I turned on my 20th birthday.â Now she was forever 20, even though she had celebrated her 21st she would still never age a day.
Twenty forever. Blossom wondered just how good that would be; some people would probably love it, but maybe it wasnât all sunshine a roses, because Caroline would be twenty forever, but⌠presumably, Peeta wouldnât be. Blossom knew she wouldnât be. Oh, most of Carolineâs friends probably wouldnât be. It would be so lonely, so sad. God, how did Caroline stay so upbeat?
âI think itâs⌠Itâs really interesting. I mean, I wonât limit your existence to the basis of a cultural trend right this minute, especially since itâs, you know, your life now. But, with regards to you and⌠what you are, I think you handle it very well, and I never wouldâve guessed, you know. If itâs a secret I can totally keep it a secret.â
Except from maybe Bubbles and Buttercup, who might eventually find out. But then Bubbles actually already knew about vampires. âHonestly, I think youâve probably really helped me out too. Because now that I know that youâre a vampire, Iâm much less apprehensive about my sister dating one.â
Caroline was already worried about the Peeta aging thing while she stayed the same age forever. Especially when it got to the point where he would died. They had discussed it briefly, she had even pushed him away some. But she couldnât live her life like that, afraid to love, to get close to friends, because she would lose them. She was doing her best to take things day by day.
âThanks,â Caroline replied honestly a genuine smile on her face. She was glad Blossomâs opinion of her hadnât changed, relieved even. âItâs not really a secret, but not something I want broadcasted you know? Even with all the strange things that happen around here, being a vampire⌠I think some people still might be scared, or judge.â She honestly wasnât sure but she didnât want anyone to be afraid of her without even knowing her. Or with knowing her, but if they did know her there would be nothing to be afraid of. Blossom was just more proof of that.
âSheâs dating Stefan, right?â Caroline had briefly met Bubbles when she stopped by to visit Blossom and she knew Stefan was seeing a girl named Bubbles. It wasnât it was like it was that common of a name. Plus she had seen them talk on the net a few times. âHeâs from my dreams too.â Hopefully that would make Blossom feel better to know he was the same kind she was, that he didnât hurt anyone. Stefan was a little different than her, he had issues with control, fed on animal blood because human blood was too tempting. But that wasnât exactly her place to share.
So, not a secret but not common knowledge, Blossom could work with that. Especially since it meant it wouldnât be too big a deal if she did talk to Bubbles about it all. She knew that her younger sister had finally talked to Stefan about the whole vampire thing, that became obvious when the sour mood had lifted completely and carefree Bubbles was back. There was just something wrong about an upset Bubbles.
âYeah, thatâs him. I havenât met him yet, but Bubbles seems to like him.â And while it was important that Bubbles get to make her own choices, and Blossom would always support her, it was just as important that Blossom one day meet Stefan and make sure he knew that she would hide his body very well should he ever hurt her sister.
Even if he could climb out of whatever grave she put him in. âSo⌠Heâs a nice a guy, right?â Vampire thing aside, it was important that he wasnât just a jocked-up frat douche.
âYeah, heâs a good guy,â Caroline confirmed. She could definitely understand that Blossom wanted to look out for her sister. Caroline felt the same way about her friends, Stefan included. But Stefan wasnât the one dating a vampire. Bubbles seemed very innocent from what she knew, so Caroline didnât feel the need to check up on her.
âWhat about you?â Caroline asked curiously, relaxing now that the vampire subject was out of the way. âAnyone special in your life?â
Returning to the easy stroking of Sonicâs little prickly spikes, Blossom figured that endorsement from Caroline was okay enough for her to back burner the threats for Stefan, in the end she was pretty sure itâd be easy to take him to see Buttercup fight sometime and then just remind him that sisters were bonded for life and let it go from there.
âUm, maybe?â Of course when the subject of her love life came up, it sparked another blush. âIâve um, I went on a date or two with this guy from college andâŚâ And the boy was a hell of a kisser, talked about more dates and was really good looking. âItâs nice, itâs new. I think I like him.â
âReally?â Caroline asked her eyes shining with excitement. âThe beginning of things are always so exciting,â she gushed. âWhen everything is new and you are still figuring things out and all that.â Not that being moved in with Peeta and settled was bad or boring. Far from it, she loved her life with him, loved coming home to him everyday. âBut wait,â Caroline said as the last part of Blossomâs words sunk in. âYou think you like him?â
Blossom did like Tyler, she knew she did. But she wasnât entirely obtuse to the fact that lots of girls liked Tyler. She knew his upbringing was very different too, with his dad being who he was. But their date had definitely gone well, and Blossom was eager to see if it would go anywhere. âWell, I sort of know that I like him, I just⌠Donât know how much he likes me.â Tyler was an athletic popular, party type. Blossom was a bit of a bookworm.
âWe had a really nice date,â which was confirmed to be a date early on too, âand we sort of want another one, I think, he hinted at it.â And there had been kissing, so that was like more of a hint that there was some chemistry, right? âI just know that thereâs like four other girls in my class that totally think heâs hot.â
âWell too bad for them,â Caroline said with a shrug. âHe obviously isnât interested in them if he is taking you out.â It made perfect sense to Caroline, although who knew he could be some player that took lots of girls out. If they only had one date so far it wasnât like they were exclusive. But still it was a good start. âI wouldnât worry about them, and just focus on the time you get to spend with him.â
âHeâs fun, and Iâm pretty sure heâs smart too. And itâs hard to find fun smart guys at college, theyâre usually one or the other.â But Tyler was clearly dedicated to his studies, just as much as he seemed to enjoy parties. âI sort of took him to the worst ever dance performance ever because my friends begged me to show up. And he was super cool about it being terrible.â Which really, Blossom wouldâve thought would be a deal breaking.
âI guess, he might be used to that stuff though, his dad is something like a governor or council man or⌠I feel really bad that Iâve forgotten but Tyler is just a really good kisser so I totally blanked on most of the evening.â
With the way Blossom was going on about him, Caroline could tell she really liked the guy. And the fact that he didnât complain about the worst performance ever sounded beyond sweet. But then she heard Blossom say his name and mention how his dad was a politician. âWait, are you talking about Tyler Lockwood?â
âUm⌠Yes.â Okay, was it a good thing or a bad thing when someone did that? The whole âwait, are we talking about this guy and youâre gushing about him but heâs actually a doucheâ or a âwait, weâre talking about this guy who is amazing and Iâve been there so hahaâ or what! Blossom usually did this stuff with her sisters, and even then, it was mostly in theory. Sheâd had one serious boyfriend in high school and even then it wasnât the whole âyouâre way out of my leagueâ because he wasnât, he was exactly her league.
Tyler felt maybe a little out of her league.
âWe went to high school together.â She wasnât sure what to say beyond that. They had hooked up, yeah but that was forever ago and both had moved on. Caroline had never even been that invested, honestly. Tyler was the jock, she was the cheerleader it just made sense. He was a douche back then, nice to her but not so much everyone else. Now they were friends and he seemed to be less of an ass. Blossom would be good for him if he didnât fuck it up. âYou guys will make a cute couple.â
Oh, that made sense. Blossom hadnât been at the same school so she couldnât really voice in for how Tyler used to be or not. She was gauging things on how he acted with her, which all in all, she felt was fairly positive. He was nice, and sweet and made her laugh and blush -but not in a mean way. âYou think so?â But if Caroline knew him, well, that was positive too. âI guess I really do like him.â
âI do,â Caroline said with a nod. She didnât really want to say too much. Tyler was also in her dreams but given the fact that Blossom already knew there were vampires in her dreams she didnât want her to assume that of Tyler. Or ask if he was anything in the dreams because it wasnât her place to tell. âYouâll have to let me know how your next date goes.â
âI definitely will.â If only because itâd be nice to talk to someone else about this stuff. Her sisters were great, but she could do without the teasing in between it all. And Caroline was definitely great at the reassuring. âSo, how about you tell me more about this little prickly guy and how youâre enjoying your domestic bliss?â
Blossom was not leaving until sheâd consumed at least half of those cupcakes.