Stefan had spent the day once again holed up on the couch in their living room with an old Dickens book that was faded, the cover feathering into little pieces and wasting away with the passing of time. The pages were yellow and soft, feeling almost dusty beneath his fingers with how easily they rubbed off on his them when he ran his thumb in a circular motion in the corner of the page, like he had since he was small, and his mother first started teaching him to read. Many of the books that sat on the little bookshelf they'd managed to find while out walking in town one day had small indentations in the pages that indicated he'd started doing the same thing to them. His head was tucked into the corner of the sofa with one leg hanging off the cushions and the other propped on the opposite arm from where he was laying his head. For the first time in a long time, he resembled a much younger version of himself. It wasn't hard to see a young 15-year-old Stefan sprawled on the couch in the same way, fingers rubbing circles into the corners of his book pages and his eyes trained on the pages with a practiced grace. His eyelashes cast a familiar shadow over his cheekbones as he ran his eyes back and forth across the words on the page.
He could feel her presence before she even made her entrance into the living room. Even if he weren't a vampire, he was sure he'd have known where she was in the house without even having to try. They'd had a connection like this since they were small enough that he couldn't remember the days or the weeks that passed before they didn't spend the day together. He had been connected at the soul to this girl since before they day they'd met, like an echo phone with two cans tied to a string and pulled tight between two spots on a map. "You know, some might say it's rude to stare." He said before she got a chance to even open her mouth. She smiled, and he heard the remnants of a soft giggle passing her lips that likely faded before it had a chance to really blossom into a laugh. "I can't believe you still read that stupid book." She commented back, walking the short distance between the doorway and the couch in her bare feet and curling one leg onto the couch so she was situated above him but not quite sitting on top of him just yet.
"It's my favorite book." Stefan said in a soft tone. He knew she was well aware of this fact, he knew she could see it in all the tell-tale little signs that had been there since they were children and he'd refused to read anything his father gave him to study, and would instead sit on the couch in the foyer, with her sprawled out on the couch on the other end while he read allowed in his exaggerated childish voice that made the whole thing sound more like a sad joke than a serious fictional story. Over the years things had changed, when he'd turned about 13 or 14 he'd hit an unexpected growth spurt and there was no longer room for the two of them on the same couch. Too afraid to break his father's strict rules about affection towards friends or girls he wasn't approved to go off courting, she had to sit on the floor with her chin propped on the cushion of the couch while his reading slowly became more and more serious and genuine throughout the years. It wasn't until they had the brilliant idea to bring the book with them to that spot only they ever visited. No one had ever walked in on them there, and they could sit however and wherever they wanted. It started out small with her sitting on his stomach and leaning back against his knees which were often propped up with his feet planted on the ground, but it quickly and easily morphed into something more comfortable, with her laying down on top of him with her head nestled beneath his chin where it was propped on the log they usually sat on top of.
Scarlett smiled as she watched him take in the words on the page for what she was certain was likely the thousandth time since his mother gave it to him. One hand reached up to stroke along his bare arm before she adjusted herself above him and laid down on his chest where she normally fell asleep whether he read aloud or not. His arm instinctively found it's way over her shoulder and down around her waist and he felt her settle into his shoulder and collar bone like she'd always fit there, because she had. "You look just like you did when we were kids." She said as she rubbed her fingers gently over his chest right in the middle of his sternum. She was likely the only person who knew he enjoyed having that spot caressed, especially when he was stressed or overworked about something serious that had him brooding in their bedroom all day. "I'm surprised you haven't rubbed holes into those pages by now with how much you do that." She said as she reached up to run her fingers over his where they held the corner of the page, and his eyes followed her hand with a small smile.
"200 years and it's finally starting to wear down." He lifted his thumb to reveal a significantly faded and thinned out page corner. It was clear the other pages were just as worn down from how much he read the same book, and they were just about ready to pop holes at any moment. "I'm probably going to have to get a new one when this one stops being able to be used the way I use it." He said, his tone carrying a touch of sadness. This was the only thing he owned that was left over from his childhood, besides Scarlett he had no ties to his human life left other than this book. The idea of having to familiarize himself with a whole new book that didn't even hold any of the same memories this book held was unpleasant and he didn't like it at all. But at least he had another 200 years of memories to make with a new book like it.
"Stefan Salvatore, sometimes I think you're entirely too sentimental for your own good." Scarlett commented with a chuckle as she ran a hand through his hair. He'd finally gotten over his stupid grudge with scissors and started letting her cut his hair on a regular basis a few decades back. It had only taken growing up, becoming a vampire, losing his entire family and then finding peace and solace in a new way of life with her for him to break down and decide he was ready to act like an adult about his hair, but she'd managed to convince him one way or another. Now she saw to it that it was never so long that it covered his vision, but only just long enough to fall in his eyes if he didn't style it. She'd always liked seeing it loose and slightly in his eyes, it made him look so young and innocent, like he had when he was too small to get away from Aunt Bernie when she pinned him down and took to cutting his hair for him. Stefan just gave her that look that was reserved only for her and then rolled his eyes.
"You know why this book is so important to me." Stefan said, and she thought back to the night they'd first made love. He'd been reading it to her aloud in a position not too terribly different than this. They'd spent their entire lives falling in love and making plans to run away one day, and by the time he was 17 and she was 18 they'd stopped caring what their families wanted. She'd already nearly been forced into a marriage she had no desire to be a part of, and they'd finally come out on the other side with each other. That had truly been all they'd ever wanted all along, was to be together. Whether they'd had the guts to admit it to the other or not, their lives had been spent almost fated to fall in love from the very moment they met. It had started slow and lazy and easy and it had simply progressed until they were both dozing off in his bed as they always had since they were small, only this time they were both devoid of clothing and had little secret smiles on their faces that only they could explain the meaning of.
"We can make new first-time memories with a different book, Stefan." She replied with a soft smile, but she could see by the look in his eye that it wasn't the same. He would never get to do anything for the first time as a human again. Everything he experienced, he would experience as a vampire for the rest of his life, however long that may be. "Don't look at me like that, Stefan, it's still the same and you know it. Plus, it's not like your book is going anywhere. It'll still be right here, and you can still go back and read it just to remember all the great things we did with this book if you really want to. But if you keep reading this specific copy, eventually there won't be anything left for you to read and you'll be stuck with a new book that's not important, and an old book that can't even accomplish what you kept it for in the first place. Then where would we be, huh?" She rose a brow and gave him her stern-but-endearing look and he let out a heaving sigh and then smiled.
"You're the worst, you know that?" He said but bent to kiss her slow and heavy just the same. She would always know just what to say to lift his spirits and remind him why he needed to do things, so he didn't fall into bad habits and spend his days holed up in his room ignoring the entire world. She giggled at his comment and kissed him back eagerly, but pulled away and sat up, leaving him there with a pout on his face and a groan escaping his chest.
"Calm down, Captain Complainer. I've got to go to work, and you should probably find out when your boss needs you in today. Just because we're undead doesn't mean we don't have to be responsible!" Stefan let out an annoyed sigh and closed the book. She was right. He hated that she was right. Unfortunately, it happened way too much for him to really say anything about it, because that meant he was usually wrong and there was no way he was opening that can of worms.