InsaneJournal

Who: Stefan Salvatore and Bubbles!
When: sometime in July
Where: Stefan, Bubbles, and Lexi’s hooouse
What: Bubbles has a dream and is a super grump
Rating/Warnings: Lowish/The grumpiest Bubbles
Status: Complete when posted



The summer was teaching Bubbles the danger of naps. She didn’t usually have time for naps during the school year, but now that it was the summer and most of what she was doing was work and studying for her licensure exam, she found herself napping. Apparently even naps meant dreaming. This last dream was about the Rowdyruff Boys who were basically like her and her sisters...only boys. Really annoying boys.

First Mojo had started blowing things up and they’d had to fight him, which landed him in jail. Then they’d had to fight him another time when he was using a laser beam to blow things up again. Once again, he’d been put in jail. Then, he’d built a robot and crushed things and punched buildings and they’d fought him again. This time by tripping the robot. Once again he was in jail and Blossom had told him that the Powerpuff Girls would never lose, which seemed to be the truth.

Of course, not all things were that way. Especially not in the dreams.

They’d been fighting an octopus with one eye and she’d had to save ladybugs, which meant she’d had to blast through an octopus’ eye and got octopus gunk on her (which was totally gross, by the way). And then the Rowdyruff Boys had burst onto the scene and started fighting them, acting like they were weird for not crying because they got hit.

The trouble was that a lot of Townsville got destroyed because of their fight. They’d been hurt in the process, too. Thrown into the stairs. And then the boys had thrown a bus, a plane, and a ship at them. Full of people.

At the end, the way to defeat them was kissing them, which had thankfully just been on the cheek. Still, she was vaguely annoyed that kissing was the answer to her problems. It was probably silly for her to be upset about something like that, but she couldn’t help it.

If she hadn’t already had plans to see Stefan, she probably would have called to see if they could make plans. Instead, she was just glad that plans were already in place. She didn’t know if she should go when she was annoyed, but Stefan was always very good at making her feel better, so she showed up, testing the doorknob before pushing the door open a little. “Helloooo? I’m here!”

Stefan was in the kitchen when Bubbles came through the front door. He had his phone plugged into a kitchen outlet, and was leaning against the counter as he fiddled with the stuff on the screen. It was probably time for a phone upgrade. He had no idea what kinds of phones there were out there, though. That was the problem with being (relatively) freshly home from military service. He’d been home for about a year, and still felt pretty out of the loop.

A smile crossed his lips, though, when Bubbles came in. He liked that she felt welcome enough to let herself in. “Hey,” he said, setting the phone down on the counter behind him. “How’s it going?”

Bubbles didn't really waste much time before she made her way over to Stefan, leaning herself against him and trying not to grumble. "Dreams are stupid nap ruiners," she said in response to his question. And she didn't even like this dream. It was just annoying. It was probably due to not sleeping very well and waking up about as tired as she went to sleep, but it still counted as far as she was concerned. "We had to fight some dumb boys and the only way to beat them was to kiss them on the cheek."

She let out a sigh and nuzzled against him, wrapping her arms around him. "We're five. The only good thing about it was that they exploded after." Which was not exactly the very Bubbles-like thing to say. "Which is probably mean, but they also punched us into the street, so I don't care."

When Bubbles came over to him and leaned against his chest, Stefan’s arms automatically went around her. He held her tightly against him, breathing in her smell. His eyes closed and he nuzzled down into her hair--the fact that he was slumped against the counter meant that she came up higher on his chest than she otherwise might have.

“Wait, you had to kiss someone to defeat him?” He asked, torn between amused and jealous. Or was that protective? He always felt protective of her. Bubbles meant a lot to him. “...I’m not sure I like that. Any of it. Hopefully it wasn’t a gross explosion.”

She let out another frustrated sigh. "We fought them and they punched us into the street and we woke up to the people of Townsville crying on us. Then Ms. Bellum told us there was another way to defeat them, so apparently kissing was the other way. It was only on the cheek, but I'd rather have punched them." In the dream she didn't seem to care, but in the dreams she was five. Now she felt more like Buttercup had about the whole situation. "It wasn't a gross explosion. Kind of sparkly, but I don't know how to explain it exactly."

Just that they'd burst into colorful firework-type explosions. "They're called the Rowdyruff Boys and Mojo made them to fight us because we put him in jail three times." Closing her eyes, she focused on Stefan and the way he smelled at that moment. It was nicer than thinking about Mojo or the Rowdyruff Boys. "It's stupid."

“It’s not stupid.” Stefan whispered. He dipped his head down to press his nose into her temple. “It’s very much not stupid. We can’t control what happens in these Dreams, so I don’t ever want you to feel guilty or embarrassed about what happens in them.” He kissed her cheek, then her jaw, then her neck. And he bit down on his lip, holding her close, fighting his cravings.

Bubbles relaxed a little as he spoke and even more with the kisses. She wasn't entirely cured of her grumpiness, but being near Stefan made things better. He always made her feel better. Even when she was at her grumpiest, which was actually right now. She hadn't really been grumpy around him before. Upset, yes. Grumpy? Not as much. "Thanks, Stefan." She nuzzled in close to him. "I just wish that boys didn't have to be beat by womanly wiles. I wanted to fight them." There was a sigh. "I sound like Buttercup now. Who wants to fight everyone."

She pulled back just enough to lean up and steal an actual kiss. "I'd much rather kiss you than some stupid Rowdyruff boy anyway."

Stefan wondered for a moment if kissing was such a good idea. After all, she’d just had some really horrible Dreams where she’d been forced to kiss someone against her will. Stefan would hate to make her feel uncomfortable. But she seemed to be getting comfort from all this, so he continued giving her cuddles and kisses. “Good,” he mumbled, leaving his lips close to hers, his arms around her. “I was just starting to feel jealous.” He teased, then stole another couple of kisses from her lips.

The difference between Stefan and her dreams was that she wanted to kiss Stefan. She supposed her dream self hadn’t really minded kissing whatever his name was, but it wasn’t like she really thought that she’d have gone for kissing him on the cheek without someone having told her to do it in order to defeat them. The slightest hint of a smile formed when he spoke and she hit him lightly, keeping her super strength in check. “No competition,” she said, nudging him lightly with her nose. “You’re stuck with me.”

“I can’t think of anyone else in the world I’d rather be stuck with.” Stefan replied. All flirtatious and cuddly. He trailed his hands along her arms, then took a couple of steps backward, drawing her with him toward the bedroom. “And you’re stuck with me, too--the guy who wants to distract you from your dreams and cuddle up for a movie.” He wasn’t lying, either. Stefan wanted to do everything he could to move as far away from talking about those Dreams.

Bubbles smiled a little more, allowing herself to be led away from the kitchen and toward Stefan’s room. “What will the neighbors think,” she asked, a hint of laughter to her voice. “Leading innocent, young girls astray with cuddles and netflix.” She didn’t really care if anyone didn’t like it. Netflix and cuddles sounded far nicer than thinking about what was going on in her dreams for the first time since she’d started dreaming. She liked dreaming about fighting crime, but she didn’t want to dream about kissing boys when she didn’t think her five year old self fully understood it. They were smart, but they were still five. “But you should know that I’m just fine being stuck with you.”

“Lucky vampire?” Stefan teased in response, giving her hand a little squeeze. He wasn’t at all concerned with what anyone else thought. The only people who really mattered where right there in the hall. He was slightly concerned with what the Professor thought, and Bubbles’ sisters. And he was certainly hoping for Damon and Lexi’s blessings, but if he didn’t get them it wouldn’t change anything. He’d fallen for her. He wasn’t letting her go.

“Good. Now. Here’s the big, important question,” he said, tugging her into his room and kicking the door closed. They were alone with his bed, the giant unicorn stuffed animal, and his television on the opposite wall. “What are we gonna watch on Netflix?”

Bubbles rolled her eyes. She wasn’t all that concerned about anyone else’s opinions either. She knew that Blossom was fine with him and that Buttercup would probably only stop giving him sideways looks with time. Stefan was Stefan and Bubbles liked him...even if he did eat animals. She was pretty sure liked wasn’t even a strong enough word anymore, but she didn’t know whether or not to mention it.

“Hmmm. There’s the Emperor’s New Groove or the Corpse Bride ooooooor I think Hotel Transylvania 2?” She was fine with all of those, but the Emperor’s New Groove was probably the funniest option of the three.

“I’ve never seen the Emperor’s New Groove,” Stefan admitted. “Is that new?” He moved into the room and released Bubbles so he could go set up the television and grab the remote. While the Dream Stefan wasn’t all that big on technology--hard to be when he grew up in a time before electricity--the Real World Stefan was finding that he was pretty good at putting things together. He was picking up more and more of it. Now he had a computer attached to his television on the wall, so Netflix was a breeze.

Once it was set up and loading, he came back over to the bed to climb up against the pillows with her.

“You’ve never seen it?” Her expression was one of both surprise and disbelief. “It’s not new. What am I going to do with you, Stefan? You’re so behind on movies sometimes.” After he let go of her hands, she made her way over to the bed, slipping her shoes off. She shot off a text to the Professor that she was watching a movie at Anna’s again. It wasn’t technically a lie. She was watching a movie and she was at Anna’s. She just happened to be watching the movie with Stefan. She put her phone down on the table next to the bed after she sent it off.

When he came to sit with her, she moved to lean against him. “You’ll thank me for this.”

“Sometimes,” Stefan would have replied that he spent five years after high school overseas, with only a handful of DVDs to keep the group occupied. “I can think of a few things I’d like you to do with me,” he added, flirtatiously. Then he was sitting close up against her again, one arm wrapped around her shoulders. “I’m sure I will,” he turned to press a kiss into her hair as the movie started.

And she was right. He was highly entertained by the movie. He laughed, trying not to get too distracted by the beautiful woman beside him, but let’s face it; she was quite the distraction. “That was really cute,” he said, lifting the remote to turn off the tv once the film had finished. It’d grown dark over the couple of hours they’d been watching.

Bubbles felt her face flush instantly and she lightly hit him again. It took a while for her face to cool down, but that was mostly because her mind started thinking about it, too. She’d been joking before, but now she couldn’t help but think about it.

“It’s pretty great. I like the part where he finds out that he’s a llama. Also when Yzma gets turned into cat! That’s so funny.” Shifting, Bubbles turned to look at Stefan. “I’m glad you liked it. Eventually you’ll be all caught up.”

Sometimes Stefan wondered if he was pushing her, if there was a line he was crossing. They’d done other things, but they hadn’t gone all the way. It was something he’d like to do, but didn’t want her to feel pressure toward. He liked flirting with her, and joking about it, but he did worry that he made her feel uncomfortable. A conversation for another time, perhaps.

“I liked when the big guy talked to the squirrel.” Stefan said, grinning. “Eventually. I’m glad I’ve got you to tell me which movies are worth watching.” Then he leaned in to kiss her. Gently.

If there was something Bubbles didn’t want to do, she wouldn’t have. She just hadn’t figured out a way to tell him that it was okay, that she wasn’t feeling as awkward about it now as she had been before. She wasn’t sure if just saying it would work or if she was just overthinking everything. She’d never really had to think about how to do it. It seemed to just happen in the movies.

“Kronk is the best,” she agreed. It was almost like how she could talk to squirrels...only she wasn’t really sure if she sounded quite the same. “I’m very helpful like that.” Smiling into the kiss, Bubbles moved a little more so she was facing him.

“I think I’ll keep you around,” Stefan teased, smirking. His arms wrapped gently around her, and he leaned down a bit, getting more comfortable. It was late, and warm, and Stefan was suddenly feeling supremely lazy. Happy and lazy. He nuzzled his nose against hers. “Please tell me you can stay the night?” That was one of the good things about living with his girlfriend’s friend. Bubbles could always say she was sleeping over at Anna’s.

“You didn’t have much of a choice.” Bubbles was pretty comfortable as it was and even though she knew she probably should leave, she didn’t want to. It wasn’t like she had work in the morning and she didn’t have school to worry about. Plus, Stefan was very convincing without even trying to convince her. “I did already tell the Professor I was watching a movie here.” She was sure the Professor wasn’t going to mind if she spent the night. She’d been having sleepovers plenty and even though they were usually planned and she didn’t need to ask all the time, she liked to check in and let someone know. “So I can always say it turned into a sleepover.” She could say it was just because she was too tired to drive home. It would be fine.

“I think you should do that,” Stefan said, lifting a hand to trail his fingertips over her face, brushing hair off her forehead. “Then I can keep you next to me all night long.”