Who: Stubbles When: Mid-Augustish Where: Maison du Anna, Lexi, Stefan, and Bubbles What: Catching up Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
Funny how they were living together now, and yet they seemed to see each other less. Stefan was busy with the garage, finding that managing the place took way more time than simply working there. Maybe the pair of them were taking this for granted a little. Now they could see each other every night, they didn’t need to carve out more of the day for quality time?
Stefan was correcting that tonight. He’d brought home a bottle of a sweet wine, some fruit salad, and a baguette with brie for dinner. That should make his vegetarian girlfriend happy, right? He set up the food and chilled wine on a tray in their bedroom, then pulled out a book to sit and read as he waited for her to come home.
Bubbles had been working a lot. She also spent time making bonding time for her and her sisters now. She knew that she probably needed to make space and time for Stefan, too, and she did try. Tonight, she was on her way back from work, wanting nothing more than to shower and cuddle up to Stefan.
So when she got home, she slipped into the shower quickly and pulled on pajamas before making her way into the room she shared with Stefan. Any general tiredness that had been there before disappeared the moment that she saw the tray. She smiled brightly before climbing onto the bed and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “You are the cutest.”
Stefan heard Bubbles arrive home. One of the things about being a vampire was having the amazing hearing, he could tell pretty much what was going on in the whole house. Lexi could probably do, too. But she wasn’t home. Or, at least, wasn’t around to bother Bubbles and Stefan as they had a night together to reconnect. Nor was Anna around. It was just the pair of them, ready for a little dinner, maybe a foot massage for his amazing girlfriend? And cuddles.
He didn’t react when she came into the room, leaving his eyes on the text in his hands. A smirk broke out across his face when she kissed his cheek, and finally he turned to look at her. “I thought you’d be hungry. Long day?”
Bubbles had very normal hearing despite all the other awesome superhero skills. She wasn’t sure if super hearing helped or not. All the same, she was happy that he’d brought her food. Especially since she was sleepy and hungry.
“I am hungry,” she said after a moment, moving to sit next to him so they would be as close as possible without it being difficult to move and get food. That being said, she leaned forward and plucked out a piece of fruit out of the fruit salad before leaning back. “It was super long. One of the animals got an upset stomach and there was puke and poop everywhere. It was terrible. But there was still some good stuff, too.” She looked up at him. “How was your day?”
Stefan moved over a little so he could wrap his arm around her while she cuddled against him and ate. “Oh God,” he was torn between disgusted and amused. That poor animal. And poor Bubbles for having to clean up after it! He was glad, though, that she had a job she loved so much. “Good. Nowhere near as eventful as puke and poop. Just lots of oil changes and bent fenders.”
Bubbles smiled up at him a little. “I bet you’re glad now that I came in and showered first.” She reached up to boop his nose. She was perhaps a very unusual human to be currently dating Stefan, but she thought her super adorableness really helped her in some situations. “But at least it wasn’t too crazy.” She knew the dreams were a lot sometimes for Stefan, so she was always happy when he seemed to be having a good day. “Do you want any fruit or anything else? I know you don’t really eat a lot, buuuuut I thought I’d ask anyway.”
A little laugh came out of Stefan at that. “Yes. I’m glad you showered.” He leaned over to press a kiss to her temple. “No, it’s okay. You eat as much as you want.” His lips moved to her cheek again, and he mumbled against it, nuzzling close. “I might have a nibble.”
But he had to pull away after that so she could eat. He stood and moved to his desk so he could pour the wine. “How’s Anna? She seemed pretty upset. I haven’t caught up with her since that night you guys were supposed to go to Karaoke.”
Bubbles grinned. “You’re very welcome.” She was happy to be able to have these moments with Stefan. He was pretty much the best. She felt a little bad that things had gotten away from them as much as it had. “I will eat so much,” she said quietly, feeling him nuzzling against her cheek. “You can always eat it from my mouth if that helps make it more appealing.”
When he moved, she leaned forward to pick more fruit out of the bowl. She probably could have eaten it with a fork, but she figured it was fruit, so she wouldn’t do that. When he asked about Anna, Bubbles frowned a little. “I think she’s a little...upset still. I can’t really blame her after what happened. I think Wash might need some help, though.” Even when she was a little upset about things, she had to admit that he needed someone. Probably multiple someones. “I don’t know if he thinks he does, but...he does.”
“The problem with people like Wash--no, the problem with the disease that Wash has--is that he doesn’t always know he needs help.” Stefan said, frowning. He held out a glass for Bubbles to take. “Let’s just hope he hit bottom. There’s nowhere to go but up, nothing to do but make it better.”
There was a nod at his words. She knew he was probably right. She took the glass, a slight frown on her face. “I just wish he’d ask for help. We would have helped. We’d have listened. I just…” She let out a small sigh. “I hope that he’s going to start to feel better. I just want to...help, but I know Anna’s upset.” And Bubbles really hated that Anna was hurt by what was going on. She didn’t deserve to be hurt. “Have you talked to Wash?”
“No.” Stefan sighed. It actually hurt quite a bit that he hadn’t seen or heard from his friend since the night Anna came home in tears with Bubbles by her side. He wished there was something he could do to help, but it wasn’t his place. It really wasn’t. Besides, he had a feeling that Wash was dodging him, much like Anna had been dodging Wash. “I wish I could help. I don’t think there’s anything we can do besides making ourselves available. To both of them.”
Bubbles frowned more at that. She took a sip of the wine from her glass before eating some more fruit. None of this was going to really keep her from getting terribly drunk if she had too much wine (and she was already starting to feel the wine after not so many sips), but it was good and she was just happy to be there. It didn’t mean that she felt any better about the whole situation with Wash and Anna. “I wish he’d just…talk to someone.” She knew that she couldn’t make him and that it had to be up to him, but… She let out a sigh. “I love you. If you ever have something bad going on with you...even if it’s really bad...I want you to come talk to me.”
Stefan nodded, lifting his own glass to sip from it. The wine was good, though it was quite sweet. He figured Bubbles would probably like it more than he did. It reminded him of her, actually, and for that he was quite fond of it. But then he set his glass down and moved closer to Bubbles to wrap his arms around her. “I love you, too. And I will always come talk to you. Even if it’s really bad.” He leaned in to tap a kiss against her hair. “Promise you’ll do the same?”
She nodded. "I promise I will. No matter if it's really bad." But most of the time nothing terrible happened. Not in the dreams and not in real life. Even when the bad things happened.