𝒮 𝔱𝔢𝔣𝔞𝔫 𝒮 𝔞𝔩𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔢 (wouldberipper) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-08-31 17:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, stefan salvatore |
Who: Caroline Forbes and Stefan Salvatore
When: Recently
Where: Boardwalk
What: Hanging out
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Stefan drove over to Caroline’s new place and parked outside. He headed up to the front door, tossing his keys up in the air and catching them again. His body moved with super-human grace, his reflexes were amazing. He knocked on the door, looking forward to spending some time with Caroline. It’d been a while since they’d had an afternoon/evening to hang out.
Caroline had just finished getting ready when she heard the knock on the door. Perfect timing. It had been way too long since she spent an afternoon with just Stefan. “Hey!” she said as she opened the door greeting him with a hug. “Let me just grab my purse and we can go.” She ran off with vampire speed and was back in front of Stefan, purse in hand within a second. “Ready!”
Stefan grinned, wrapped his arm around Caroline to return the hug, then let her go so she could grab her purse. “Hey.” He said, once she was back. So much energy in this one. It was refreshing and endearing. He stepped to the side and motioned so she could lead the way down to his car. Because he had one of those. “How’s life? Feels like we haven’t talked in ages.”
Caroline also had a car but Stefan was so proud of his she didn’t mind taking his every time they hung out. “It’s great!” she said with her usual bright smile. “Finally settled into the apartment,” really unpacking hadn’t taken all that long. But getting used to living with her boyfriend? It no longer felt weird. Just normal. “Dreams are still annoying but I don’t think that will ever stop.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought. It seems like most of her friends dreams ended. And yet here she was two and a half years later still dreaming up a storm. “How are you? How’s Bubbles? And more importantly how’s my old room?”
“I’m not hearing you asking about your bear.” Stefan said, eyes twinkling a little. “I’d think he would be just a little more important than some old room,” he was teasing, of course. Actually, both Caroline’s old bear and Mr. Horny were living in the garage now. Probably making giant, stuffed babies. “Bubbles is amazing, though. Thanks for asking. And Peeta? He’s still treating you right?”
“Grizzly! How’s Grizzly?” It was a tie. Between Grizzly and her room. Because she really did like that room. It was weird sharing one now, though if she had to share with anyone she was glad it was Peeta. Obviously. “Yup,” Caroline said climbing into the car. “Except he made me turn the spare room into a guest room instead of a closet.” Yeah Caroline wasn’t going to let that one drop. “You know, your girlfriend and my boyfriend have some very weird names.” Caroline hadn’t really thought about it until they were said in the same sentence. But yes, not the most common names for their significant others.
“How dare he.” Stefan said, smirking softly. He started up the car and pulled away from the curb. A little laugh escaped him. “That they do. Have you noticed that there are a bunch of weird names on Valarnet?” Even Stefan was a strange spelling. Caroline and Anna had pretty regular names. But Bubbles?
“Must have to do with the dreams,” she said with a shrug. Considering dreams took place in different time periods and even universes. Like Stefan was a pretty old timey name and he was technically born in the 1800s. “Anyway let’s not talk about dreams today.” Especially since Caroline was currently dating Stefan in hers which was just weird.
Like everything, really. It all had to do with the Dreams, didn’t it? Stefan shrugged softly. He kept his eyes on the road as they drove, not because he was worried that he might get hurt should the car get into an accident, but to protect everyone else on the road. He was driving a killing machine. He was a killing machine, driving a killing machine. He had a lot of things to be careful about. “All right,” he agreed. “Are you getting ready for school starting? Anna won’t stop talking about it. She’s taking about a thousand classes this quarter.”
“Again?” Caroline asked with a raised brow. “She took like a thousand last time too.” How Anna handled it Caroline had no idea. “But yeah I’m ready. It’s my last year so I kind of can’t wait for it to be over with.” She was so done with school. As for what she was going to do after? She was still debating. It was between tv producer like her dreamself or party planner.
“She’s probably going to end up with about a thousand degrees.” Stefan said, giving a little laugh. “I don’t know how she does it. I wasn’t all that fond of school to begin with, and she seems to revel in it.” He pulled off the highway and onto the side street that would take them to the boardwalk. “Ah, so you’re graduating this year, huh?” He asked, giving her a little grin. “I’m super proud.”
“I hear you,” Caroline agreed. “I’m mostly just there for the social aspect.” Because well it was true. She preferred being on campus, going to classes, talking to her friends and making new ones to sitting at home and studying or writing a paper. “Awww thanks,” she teased. “I’ll be sure to get you a ticket to graduation.”
“That makes sense.” That little detail totally fit with Caroline. Wanting to be around other people, make friends, talk to a group, be in the spotlight? Because let’s face it, when Caroline was in a group of people, she shone. “Great.” He grinned. “Get one for Lexi, too, would you?”
“I think I’m going to have to compel extra tickets.” She had no idea how many they got. But she was sure it wasn’t enough to cover all the important people in her life. Her mom, Peeta, Stefan, Anna, Lexi, Hanna, Bonnie. The list went on. “But we have almost a whole year to worry about that.”
Stefan gave a little laugh. “Yes, we do. And who knows? Life changes. You may need twice as many tickets, or half as many by then.” He pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car, then climbed out. Sometimes Stefan had to remind himself to move slow. Especially when he was around other vampires. Poor Anna. When Stefan and Lexi got together sometimes they put the speed on, and Anna was left in their dust.
“So, what are we gonna do tonight? Roller coaster? Ooh, midway games?” Stefan asked, pocketing his keys.
“Half as many?!” Caroline gasped a bit over dramatically. “You think I’m suddenly going to lose half my friends?” she feigned being hurt. Twice as many definitely sounded more like it.
Caroline followed Stefan out of the car making their way towards the boardwalk. “Ohhh let’s do the rollercoaster first!” After all they had both already won animals at the games. Both now in Stefan’s possession.
In the garage. Stefan was kind of hoping that some Orange County magic would pick up and the unicorn and teddy bear would breed. He wanted to see giant stuffed animals running all around southern California. “All right!” He ignored the bit about half as many friends. There was pretty much no way that Caroline would end up with half as many friends.
He turned to lead the way toward the big roller coaster at the end of the block.
Of course there was a line at the roller coaster. Caroline was so not in the mood to stand in line. She knew not everyone was a fan of the whole compulsion thing but she was with another vampire. “Should we?” Caroline asked expecting Stefan to know what she was referring to.
“Oh, absolutely,” Stefan responded with a nod. They could just work their way to the front and the employee would let them on. They didn’t need tickets. Tickets were for suckers. And there may be moans and groans from other people in line, but hey. Stefan and Caroline were VIPs.
As they made their way to the front of the line, there were surprisingly few people complaining about them cutting. The employee at the front let them right onto the ride, and started up the machine. It was a pretty good coaster, actually, Stefan was pleased.
Maybe Caroline should hang out with vampires more often. Not that she didn’t considering two of her close friends were vampires. But it was hard to show that side of herself around humans. The side that liked who she was now. Even if it was a predator.
“So much fun!” Caroline gushed once the ride was over. It was hard to thrill her these days. Being a vampire and all. But that was definitely thrilling. “Where to next? Time to give Grizzly and Mr. Horny a new friend?”
“We could do that,” Stefan was grinning more than normal. Actually, he’d been in a better mood than normal today as they made their way around the boardwalk. “I hear Anna’s interested in having a giant stuffy for her bedroom.” He turned to head own toward the midway games with a bounce in his step.
“So, things with Bubbles are better than ever.” Stefan said, pretty much bursting with the information.
“We’ll win her one,” Caroline exclaimed confidently. And really there was no doubt about it. They were vampires after all. But the subject of Anna and stuffed animals left her mind the second Stefan mentioned Bubbles. Not to mention that smiles on her face. “Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me!” she joked bumping his shoulder.
Stefan gave a little laugh, tipping his head up to the sky as they walked. He felt the bump into his shoulder, and he shrugged. This had been the right thing to do. Stefan wanted to talk with someone about it all, but he hadn’t been sure who to turn to. This just felt like a Caroline conversation, and he was glad to be having it. “It’s moved to a whole new level. I can’t remember feeling like this with anyone since…” Well, Elena. In his Dreams.
“Since….?” Caroline asked super curious. But she also wanted to know about what was going on with Bubbles. “What whole new level? Oh my god. Did you do it?!” Way to be subtle Caroline. Oh well, that was basically what new level meant.
Laughter was going to be a common thread during this conversation. Mostly because Stefan was really happy about the way things were going in his love life. He nodded, sighing happily. “She’s been spending the night,” he replied. That should answer her question. “Though I think she tells her dad that she’s having sleepovers with Anna.”
“Anddddd?” Jesus, Stefan. Was Caroline really going to have to drag this information out of him? “Do you guys just sleep?”
Stefan couldn’t help the smirk that tugged on his lips. “No, Caroline. We did a whole lot more than sleep.” He was torn between proud and giddy over it. “Just the once, though. I wish I could have her over more, but… well, I don’t want her father coming after me with a shotgun. Or a set of petri dishes.” ...whatever chemists use to attack guys who defile their innocent daughters.
“You think her dad would do that? She’s an adult.” But then Caroline’s own father barely even cared about her and her mother had always been very chill about that sort of thing. Well not always, but once Liz had realized Caroline was going to be having sex she grew to accept it.
“I dunno. I’ve never come across this before.” When he’d had his overnights with girls in high school, they were all stupid, silly teenagers exploring their sexuality. When he’d slept with the Marine overseas, it was to blow off steam, and never really meant anything. Besides, there were no parents there to tell them what to do. This was different. Bubbles was innocent, and Stefan was a predator. Literally. “I dunno. He seems like a pretty reasonable man. But don’t fathers get a little crazy when their daughters date scary, older men?”
“Okay, now you’re just making yourself sound like some sort of perv,” Caroline teased. “You aren’t a scary older man. You’re just Stefan.” Besides once you were out of high school a few years really wasn’t a big deal. At least in Caroline’s opinion. “As for dads. I have no clue. Mine never cared,” or was even in the picture. “My mom was a little wary when I was in high school. Wasn’t a fan of Tyler for awhile. But she came around.”
Stefan chuckled softly. Sometimes he felt like one in the dreams, but never in this life. In this life the difference between him and Bubbles wasn’t much, but it might be enough to give Bubbles’ father pause. She was only nineteen, and he was… six years(?) older than she was. “Yeah, but that was in the Dreams,” Stefan said. “I mean, here. You know? If Bubbles and I had the same Dreams, things would be very, very different.”
“Yeah, I’m talking about here.” Duh, Stefan. Or did he not know she had a thing with Tyler back in high school? Oops. Oh well. “But wait, why would things be very different if you shared dreams?” Of course Caroline knew how easy it was to be close to the people she shared dreams with, but she didn’t think it’d make much of a difference to her sex life if she shared dreams with Peeta or not.
Stefan turned to stare at Caroline. What she was talking about--a thing with Tyler? Sleeping with Tyler?--was news to Stefan. “Wait, you and Tyler? Here? I had no idea.”
“Yeah, like forever ago. Back in high school,” she shrugged. It wasn’t really that big of a deal but he had asked about protective fathers and that was the only example she could think of. “But yeah I think parents expect that sort of thing? At least my mom did.”
“Huh.” Weeeeeird. The Dreams really did reflect reality, didn’t they? Him and Katherine? Damon and Elena? Though that was gone now. Now it was Damon and Katherine. Stefan and Caroline had both found people to love who were outside their Dream World, and they were both in healthy relationships. Maybe that was for the best. Stefan wasn’t sure that he’d be able to have a healthy relationship with someone he Dreamed with.
“She’s an adult now. I just hope that I make her happy enough that he won’t hate me.” Stefan chuckled. Of course, he could compel the man, but he would hate to have that hanging over his relationship with Bubbles. “Maybe I should win her a prize while we’re here.”
“I’ve seen you guys together. You totally make her happy.” Caroline was sure Stefan had nothing to worry about on that front. And any good parent would just want their daughter happy right? “Oh my god! That’s a great idea. I’ll win Anna’s stuffed animal.”