A/N: This is just a short one-shot that was in my head after last week's episode that I'd thought I'd share with you guys. For those that are reading my other fic 'Til Kingdom Come' the next chapter will be out today, I'm just busy editing.
A perfect day is difficult to describe when you have lived for over a thousand years. There have been moments where he has been incredibly happy – when he broke the hybrid curse, the death of Mikael, when he discovered how to create hybrids – all these moments adding to his collection of memories of which he will think back upon fondly, which helped to define who he is.
But yet none of these moments can be described as perfect, they all came at some form of cost or some obstacle to overcome. He would never have thought that the day he would coin as his perfect day would be when he attended a high school pageant. It all seemed very silly and trivial, a title given to a privileged child of one of the founding families, but he went because it was important to her.
Her, who has taken a more central residence in his mind lately. Her, who has betrayed him so many times but yet still has him begging for her attention. Her, who has the potential of being his greatest strength as well as his Achilles heel. It went against his very nature to care this much, to pursue so adamantly without seeing results. But yet he could not resist her, like a moth drawn to a flame.
She had agreed to go on a date with him if he handed over one of his hybrids to be killed by Jeremy in return. He knew that she only agreed to his terms in order to save Elena but an aspect of him hoped that somewhere deep down she wanted to see him again, that she enjoyed his company and now that she was not being courted by the hybrid anymore she did not have the excuse of being spoken for.
After years of diabolical scheming he knew that an ordinary dinner-and-a-movie date would be too easy for her to weasel out of once her friends had sobered her up to the fact that she would be going on a date with him, their enemy. It had to be something that she would have to attend, somewhere amongst the monotony of her teenage life where he can display all he can offer her if she just gave him a chance.
She took some convincing to let him escort her to the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant but after bringing to attention the hybrid's indiscretion, she conceded. He hated to think that the reason for her going with him was because of her still lingering feelings for that boy. That boy who didn't deserve her, who was not satisfied with only her, who couldn't see what a queen she was and how much he should have treasured her. But he would not let this date be wasted, he would use any opportunity he could to try and win her.
She had put limitations on him – no gifts – she was no simple girl who could be wooed by a trinket and a few compliments. He knew that in order to charm her he would have to connect with her and according to her: he doesn't connect with people because he doesn't even try to understand them. But he wants to understand her, he wants to know everything about her, to be encompassed in her world, what she loves, what she hates. When they had first danced together at his mother's ball, she had proclaimed that she was the current Miss Mystic Falls. It was a title she was proud of, that she felt she earned, whereby in his eyes he could see no competition to her beauty. But he wanted to know why this competition was so important to her, why she had entered so he broke into the Founders Committee that judged the pageant's archives and stole her application. He was intrigued by what he read of a young girl that he had never met. A girl who didn't know about vampires and werewolves, a girl whose only problems was not winning a tiara, or having an event not run smoothly. This was the human version of her and it made sense as to why she still held onto her titles and leadership roles because they represent her human side that she isn't ready to give up on yet.
"You're perfect." Two words he never expected to hear about himself. All his life, he had been an outsider, never good enough, a creature between two worlds. His father detested him, his mother cursed him, his family didn't want him, and the only girl he had loved did not see him as enough. But here she was, the object of his affections, earnestly calling him perfect.
After that moment, 'perfect' seemed to be the one word that resounding in his head. It was the first time that she had seemed fully happy and at-ease in his company. She looked like a goddess, the length of her dress teasing him as he snuck glances at her legs with desire. She didn't shrink away when he put his hand on her lower back to lead her away from the conflict she was having with the doppelganger. She took him up on his offer of a drink. And her face when he was teasing her about what she had written in her application was priceless, he would steal all the paperwork in the world in order to have her beautiful laugh and smile directed at him. When she playfully smacked him, he wanted nothing more than to pull her closer and kiss her so that she'll know how much she affected him, how much adoration he had for her, and how perfect she was to him.
The story of the hummingbird was something that he had thought of now and then, when a victim's heart stopped, or when someone's heart pace rose rapidly at the sight of him. The decision to share the story with her became easier as the day progressed. They way she grabbed his arm and led him across the bridge, the way she smiled at him and how she seemed free around him not hard and fearful like everyone else, he knew he had to give her something, personal information about him that will help to foster the connection between them. He knew he made the right decision when he saw the admiring way she looked at him after he shared his tale. From then on, he knew that he would go out of his way to deserve such a look from her, the angel who populated his dreams and the one who had given him his one true perfect day.
