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Bubbles (joyandlaughter) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-02-06 14:14:00

Who: Joe, Stefan, Lexi, Bubbles
When: Early December
Where: Casa de Lexi, Stefan and Anna
What: Stefan’s introducing Joe to his girls~
Rating/Warnings: Low/None (probably?)
Status: Complete when posted



Orange County was an ever source of surprises. Just when Joe thought he’d seen everything that could possibly happen, what does it do? Snow. Snow in Southern fucking California. Yeah, sure. Why not? Made about as much sense as anything in this weird-ass place. At least Joe hadn’t left his parka in New York when he had moved. Actually, that had been Aunt Gertrude’s idea. She had insisted the boys take all of their winter clothes. Yeah, alright, Joe could see needing a sweater and a warm jacket, but his ski suit and snow boots? That wasn’t likely. SoCal was known for sand and surf, not snow and...snow.

Well, apparently Aunt Gertrude knew what she was talking about. There hadn’t even been snow in the forecast, but apparently that morning had other plans. Little white puffs of frozen water started to flutter to the ground on a day that should have been bright and sunny.

Well, if Orange County thought a little bit of snow on the ground was going to keep Joe Hardy from watching a hockey game at his buddy’s house, well, then Orange County clearly had no idea who it was dealing with.

Joe had learned to drive in the snow, so he was able to arrive at Stefan’s house without issue, a bag of chips and some vegetarian dip safely in tow.

Stefan was pretty excited about this, actually. Bubbles had already arrived, and Lexi lived there, so now they were just waiting for Joe to come over. The huge television on the wall in the living room was already turned to the hockey game--or, rather, the station the hockey game was going to air on--and Stefan was collecting drinks from the kitchen. He was excited to bring Joe over and introduce him to his girlfriend and best friend. It was one of those things that normal people did.

When the doorbell rang, Stefan was the closest. He moved over to it and pulled it open, breaking into a smile. “Hey. Come on in.”

Lexi didn’t usually watch sporting events, but she knew that Stefan wanted to introduce her to his friend so she had made an exception tonight. She had made a pitcher of margaritas, enough for all of them and had already poured herself one while she hung out with Stefan and Bubbles, waiting for their fourth to arrive.

Bubbles really only watched sports when it came to Buttercup. She didn't dislike them, but she didn't have any real understanding of them or anyone to cheer on, so she just didn't watch. Today was an exception because she was meeting a friend of Stefan’s. He seemed far too excited about it for her to argue and she'd grown to like Stefan’s friends. Plus, Lexi was there and Bubbles really liked spending time with her.

When Joe came in with Stefan, Bubbles popped up off the couch and smiled brightly. “Hello! You must be Joe. I'm Bubbles. How are you? Was the drive okay? I know the snow was a little surprising.”

“Hi, Bubbles,” Joe smiled, holding out his hand for her. “The drive wasn’t bad. It’s not snowing too bad out there. Really kinda weird for this time of year, but with this place…” He trailed and glanced at Stefan. Was Bubbles in the know? So far, mostly everyone Joe had met knew about Valarnet and the Dreams, but Orange County was a big place, with a lot of people. “Uh, well, I used to live back east, so I’m pretty used to driving in snow.”

He glanced at the third person in the house. “Lexi, right?” He asked carefully, hoping it wasn’t Stefan’s other roommate Anna. That would have been a little embarrassing, here.

Stefan nodded. It was hard to date a vampire without being in the know. Right? Stefan had mentioned that, hadn’t he? About Bubbles the vegetarian superhero and Lexi and Stefan the vampires. Poor Joe was the only normie in the room.

Stefan closed the door behind his friend and motioned toward the living room. “Right! Sorry, introductions. Yes, Lexi, this is Joe. Joe, Lexi.” He wrapped an arm around Bubbles shoulders, then leaned in to kiss her hair.

As Joe entered the house, Lexi sat up a little straighter, “You would think after three years of this, I’d be more used to driving in it. Of course I’m not though.” She smiled up at Joe and nodded as he spoke to her just as Stefan formally introduced them, “I am Lexi, as Stefan just said and it’s nice to meet you, Joe. Would you like a margarita?” She gestured at the pitcher on the table as she pushed some of her long blond hair over her shoulder.

Bubbles nodded. “This place does have a lot of weird things going on.” She knew about that much. She knew about pretty much everything...except for the things that Stefan didn’t talk to her about, but she guessed she couldn’t know everything, so she didn’t worry about it. “Oh, really? That’s probably helpful when it gets like this. I’ve never been to the East Coast. We’ve always been here with the Professor.” She liked it in the OC even without the usual snow.

Bubbles leaned against Stefan, smiling at the kiss and looking up at him for a moment before looking back over toward Lexi. “She does make a good margarita, so if you like them, I think you should definitely try some.”

Joe relaxed once Stefan gave him silent acknowledgement that Bubbles knew what was going on. That meant their conversations weren’t limited and he didn’t have to tip-toe around certain subjects. Joe had to give Stefan credit. It couldn’t have been an easy thing to admit, being a vampire.

All thoughts about that were quickly overshadowed by Lexi’s comment. “It’s done this three years in a row?” Joe blinked. How was this not a bigger deal? How was it not making national news? Then again, this was Orange County. Storm Troopers could flood out of Disney and random portals to hellish dimensions could open up right on top of people and they might not even blink. Joe sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’ll have one of those margaritas,” he said.

“Yeah. Well, and once in June,” Stefan added, nodding to Lexi. “Anna’s talked about it, though I wasn’t living here at the time. I was still overseas.” He released Bubbles to move to the Margarita pitcher, and grabbed some glasses so that Lexi could pour. “Her sister.” He added, glancing at Bubbles. Of course, Bubbles would know all about Anna’s Dreams and her story. Lexi had been here when it happened, though. The snow in June. It was right after Anna’s parents died.

“Three or four, yeah. Having superhuman speed makes shoveling a piece of cake though,” Lexi said as she took the glass from Stefan and poured Joe a margarita then moved to hand it to him. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the snow in June. Elsa did that, right?” So much had happened over the last few years that she was sure there were things she had forgotten.

Bubbles couldn’t remember snow from before, but then she hadn’t been on Valarnet before, so perhaps it was just something to do with that. She’d seen people ignore things or not notice things before. At least when she was in the middle of things. She’d been too busy noticing it recently to understand how she hadn’t before.

When Stefan mentioned Anna’s sister and the snow in June, Bubbles’ eyes went wide for a moment before she nodded. “That must have been something. I don’t remember it. I feel like I missed so much. But super strength probably would. Oh! I wonder if getting laser eyes will help melt the snow! That would be AWESOME! Once I could control it.”

Joe accepted the margarita from Lexi, but he didn’t take a drink right away, he was way too interested in what was being said. Snow. In June. In southern California. “Who is Elsa?” He asked. “And why did she make it snow….?” His thought trailed off when Bubbles started talking about melting snow with laser eyes. Laser eyes. Yes. Joe knew that there were superheros, or people with superhero powers, on the network (he even hung around with one. Literally.), but it was still a reason for pause when he heard someone so casually mention being able to do something like that.

Then of course there was the super strength Lexi was talking about. Joe was starting to feel a little outclassed. He was the only one in the room with no special power. It kind of made him chuckle a little bit before taking a drink from his glass.

“Elsa is Anna’s older sister,” Stefan explained. He had no idea that Joe was feeling outclassed. He didn’t really think of things that way, but if it was mentioned he would have realised. Anna wasn’t super powered, either, so it never occurred to him. It wasn’t like Stefan went around seeking out people with powers to befriend. Sometimes things just… happened. “And she was upset after her parents died. There was a giant ice castle. You should hear Anna tell the story.”

Once the margaritas were all poured and passed out, Stefan moved to the sofa to sit down. He dragged Bubbles along by the fingertips. “You think you’ll be getting laser vision from your dreams soon?”

Lexi didn’t usually go around bragging about her abilities because she knew there were still people who were completely normal and she didn’t want to make them feel uncomfortable for various reasons, but that didn’t mean she didn’t talk about her abilities on occasion. That and she did have a tendency to use her compulsion, but only on people who didn’t know about it and only when it wouldn’t hurt anybody.

“Joe, why don’t you sit and make yourself at home,” Lexi said, moving down a little on the couch to make some room for Joe since Bubbles was sitting closer to Stefan now.

Bubbles hadn’t thought too much about how having superpowers might make someone feel bad about themselves. Superpowers were fun, weren’t they? And she couldn’t help being a five year old superhero in her dreams. She let Stefan explain the situation with Anna and Elsa and the snow. She knew some of it. She at least knew the dream part of everything.

Following Stefan, Bubbles sat on the couch, leaning against his side. “I don’t know. It’s that or one of the others. I’d rather be able to speak fluent Spanish or Japanese, honestly. I’m not sure why that’s a superpower. It’s just two languages.” She shrugged slightly. “But I guess I can just walk around with my eyes closed until I know I can control it. Just don’t let me fall over.”

She glanced over at Joe again, waiting for him to sit before asking, “So what brought you here from New York?”

It wasn’t as if Joe was feeling bad about himself. Quite the opposite really. He was a brawler by nature and a pretty good one at that. At least he was in his own opinion - a fight at a local bar earlier in the year notwithstanding. The fact was that he was currently at that moment in a room surrounded by people who could probably break him in half in one way or another. Not that any of them would, but they could if they wanted to. That was what made it funny. At least to him.

Joe listened to Stefan’s story about Elsa and he sympathised with her. He’d gone kind of berserk after Iola. An ice castle, though. That was interesting. He wanted to hear the rest of the story at some point.

At Lexi’s invite, Joe made himself comfortable on the couch, smirking slightly at how cozy Stefan and Bubbles looked, cuddled together. “Laser eyes sounds pretty badass,” he stated. “And speaking a language fluently without having to learn it? Hell yeah that’s a super power.” He laughed. Laser eyes in Joe’s opinion would have been super awesome, but being able to speak spanish would probably be more useful in the long run.

He glanced at Lexi as he took a sip of his drink. “I came to Orange County with my brother,” he said carefully. “He’d just gotten a job out here and was going to move anyway. I was going through a hard time and he thought it’d be good for me to get a fresh start. So, one ridiculously long car ride later, here I am.”

“I won’t let you fall over.” Stefan promised Bubbles. He gave her a little squeeze, pulling her in against his side. They were ridiculous, weren’t they? Adorable to the point where it was almost disgusting. It was still the first year of their relationship, so they were allowed to be a little gross. He grinned softly over at Joe. “Yeah it does.” Laser eyes? Totally.

“Frank’s a pretty good guy. He’s gone out with Anna a few times. Before she and Wash got serious.” Stefan offered. At least, Stefan assumed they went out. They’d left together and come back drunk once or twice. That counted as going out... didn’t it?

“And did it help?” Lexi knew how important family was and how they could help when times for tough; after all, in the dreams she’d become a vampire so she would be able to watch over her own brother.

She smiled a little. It was pretty good, but she couldn’t help but picture the dangerous side of it. She hoped, if it happened somewhere, it wasn’t in the house. She hoped it was outside...if it had to be somewhere. Hopefully it wouldn’t just happen, though. She wasn’t sure how she’d know if she could do it. Cuddling up to Stefan was just something she did. It was nice to have someone to cuddle up to. “It would be pretty cool, I guess. Both of them. Though, the Spanish part might be more useful.”

“You’d better not let me fall over!” She looked between Stefan and Joe for a moment at the mention of his brother. She didn’t think that she’d talked to Frank before either, but maybe she’d make a point to say hi now that she knew Joe. She wondered, like Lexi, if it helped being here, if whatever happened was made better by being here. She wanted to ask what happened, but she didn’t want to seem too nosy, so she left it to Lexi’s question.

Gone out? Joe raised a curious brow. As far as Joe knew his brother hadn’t “gone-out” with anyone. He was still hurting over Callie, holding out some hope that she’d come to her senses. Frank was really hopeless. But, Joe appreciated Stefan saying his brother was a good guy. He really was, though Joe was a little biased.

In response to Lexi’s question, Joe glanced at Stefan and then kind of shrugged. “Sort of,” he admitted without going into too much detail. This was supposed to be a happy gathering. He didn’t mean to bring anyone down. “Orange County wasn’t what I was expecting, but I don’t think it’s what anyone expects.” He killed off his drink. “Have you guys lived here all your lives or are you transplants like me?”

“It really is,” Stefan agreed. Orange County really liked to fuck with people. He knew better than some about it, considering his special diet given to him from the Dreams. He squeezed Bubbles a little tighter against his side, marvelling in the fact that he didn’t have to be too careful. She was a whole lot tougher than she looked. She could almost kick his ass if she wanted to. Almost. Stefan was pretty tough, too.

“No, I’m a local born and bred.” Stefan said. “I’ve known Lexi since we were… well, practically forever. Right?”

Lexi nodded and took another sip of her margarita, “Yup. Our parents have been friends since before we were born, so it was only natural that Stefan and I would become friends.” She grinned over at Stefan, “In fact, we were each other's first kiss. It was my idea.” At the time, Lexi had figured, she was a girl and Stefan was a boy and she wanted to see what the big deal was.

Bubbles immediately wanted to give him a hug, but she forced herself not to. She wasn’t sure Joe was the sort that wanted or appreciated hugs...even if Bubbles couldn’t understand not liking hugs. Still, he didn’t really look like he was about to spill out his heart at that moment. “I’ve been here all my life,” Bubbles admitted. “It’s been a lot more strange recently, but I’m good. My sisters are dreaming with me, so it’s not as bad.” Except for that dream where she’d had to kiss a boy to beat them at the tender age of FIVE.

“This is the first time I’ve been this far away from home,” Joe admitted. “I lived in New York City for a few years, but it was like...a two hour drive from my parent’s house, so I don’t know if it really counts.” He grinned at Stefan and Lexi. Childhood friends were great. He missed Chet and the others, his own childhood friends and all of whom were still in and around Bayport, last he knew. “It’s a bit of a culture shock. California is nothing like New York. Y’know, Dreaming and everything aside.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Stefan nodded. He knew about culture shocks, even if that particular one wasn’t in his realm of experience. He’d had plenty of culture shocks moving about in the military. He glanced at Bubbles, then to Lexi, and smiled warmly. “There are good people here. People make it worthwhile.” People Stefan loved dearly. Lexi and Bubbles and Anna. Not to mention Wash and Joe and Damon and all his other friends. Even Tyler, who he had a rocky relationship with in the Dreams. Stefan sort of realized in that moment how lucky he was to have them all.