AN: This is a completely random one-shot about Stefan/Elena romance/fluff piece. Hope you enjoy!
It wasn't easy to get out of bed in the mornings. For one thing, in the night they usually became so intertwined that moving without disturbing the other was nearly impossible, their bodies practically melded together, all tangled limbs and sheets. Stefan normally ended up pressed against Elena's back, one arm around her waist or stretched across her; his other arm Elena usually commandeered for a pillow, her hand enveloped in his, their legs wrapped around each other, their feet touching.
By now they had a routine-Elena tended to wake up first, immediately registering the fact that she was safe in Stefan's arms. Normally she couldn't see his face, but she could still feel his smile. Stefan would wake up shortly after her, tightening his grasp on her and kissing the back of her neck, his lips moving oh-so-slowly over her skin. She had two ways of dealing with it: rolling on top of him to shower his face with kisses, her hands sliding lower and lower or simply twisting and kissing him, pulling him on top of her, moving lazy and slow. Either way worked wonders. Either way made it all the more difficult to actually get up and out of bed, let alone leave Stefan's bedroom.
That particular morning Stefan woke up first and Elena awoke to gentle caresses. Her eyes slowly opened and she squeezed his hand, still a little tired from last night's escapades. Sometime in the night her shirt-his shirt- had gotten pushed up and Stefan's hand rested against her stomach, his fingers slowly stroking her bare skin.
"Hmm," Stefan sighed into her hair, clearly contented to remain that way for a long time. She felt so comfortable against him and his body felt so complete and whole with hers that he never wanted to move.
Elena resettled her head against Stefan's arm, the full extent of movement she was prepared to do at the moment...for a minute or two. The heat had already crept into the room, making even the light sheets feel heavy and cumbersome; lazily Elena kicked them aside and crawled on top of Stefan, burying her face against his chest and smirking because he wasn't wearing a shirt and she's thankful for that. She kissed his chest, her hair falling around her face. Stefan murmured something as his hands slid down her body, one settling on her ass while the other played with the hem of her shirt.
Stefan expertly flipped them, sprawling between her legs and Elena slowly drew them up to wrap them around his hips, her feet attempting to push his boxers down. What was the point of clothing anyways? With them it only ended up being an undesirable barrier. Slowly, too slowly, he undid the buttons on her shirt, his teeth and lips grazing her skin, his tongue dragging across her breasts and Elena decided that clothing was completely useless as she arched her back and moaned.
Late afternoon they were back on the bed, lounging together, talking a little but mostly just enjoying the lazy, peaceful day, so different from the chaos that had lately become strangely normal.
"Wanna go somewhere?" Stefan murmured, tracing patterns on Elena's back.
"What kind of somewhere?" Elena asked, slowly turning her head to look him, her eyes half-closed and her smile lazy. "Someplace with ice cream?"
"Better," Stefan told her and Elena looked at him, her eyes sparkling.
They drove in Stefan's car, Elena smiling and chatting, making Stefan laugh which only made her smile brighter. Stefan's laugh was a wonderful sound to listen to, something she wished she could hear more often; he thought the same thing about her laughter.
"Somewhere" turned out to be a lake that was about thirty minutes away from Mystic Falls and after hiking a little bit they came to a quiet, isolated area. Around the bend the lake they could hear people, hear the splashing and screaming that went along with trying to escape the heat.
"There a reason you wanted to avoid people?" Elena asked and Stefan merely quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't bring my suit-,"
"So what?" Stefan was already pulling off his shirt. "No one's around..."
"You can't be serious," Elena stared as Stefan stripped, taking in his body (really, no matter how many times she's seen him naked she could never get used to his beauty) and not bothering to conceal the silly smile that's spreading across her face. "In broad daylight."
"Technically it's almost evening," Stefan teased and headed towards the water. "It'll be fun."
Elena watched as he strode into the water and disappeared beneath it, reemerged with his pale skin shinning and wet. "What the hell," she muttered and began taking off her own clothes.
The water felt ridiculously wonderful, so lovely and cool, a perfect contrast to the still blistering heat and she forgot to be self-conscious. Elena plunged underwater and, emerging to find Stefan besides her with an enormous grin on her face and he pulled her into a deep kiss.
"Seriously, you've never done this?" he asked, holding her face gently.
"Skinny-dipped? No," Elena laughed as they slowly moved through the water. "You have, I take it?"
Stefan smirked. "Oh yeah." The memory of the particularly fun adventure with Lexi sprung to mind.
Lexi. With a guilty pang he realized that sometimes he forgot how much he missed her. Being around Elena made it easier to focus on the present instead of lingering in the past and dwelling on all the bad memories, the moments of devastation and destruction and loss.
Suddenly a gigantic wave of water hit him; Stefan blinked the water out of his eyes and saw Elena staring at him like she knew he was in pain and wanted to distract him, to make him feel better. She sent another wave at him and burst out laughing at the sight of his hair and his expression.
"You're gonna pay for that," Stefan half-growled and lunged for her, reaching for her waist. It turned into a game of water tag, each trying to evade the other's touch but not really, only half-heartedly at best because each touch came with an embrace and kiss. Elena leapt onto Stefan's back and planted sloppy kisses against his shoulders when Stefan somehow toppled over, plunging both of them into the water. When they emerge she had somehow twisted around so she was pressed against his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"I love you," she told him and he kissed her deeply in return.
It was dark when they got out of the lake, tired and dripping but happy. Happy and peaceful and reveling in the time they spent together. Getting dressed wasn't easy (not that it ever was); they kept stealing glances at each other, eyes lingering on exposed limbs and Stefan knew he wasn't alone in thinking about spending the night there. They've never had sex outside, he realized with a slight smirk, a smirk that grew as he decided that that should go on the top of their to-do list.
On the way home they stopped at the Grill because of Elena's ice cream craving and ended up sitting with Caroline and Bonnie. Caroline's hair had a slight greenish tint to it and Bonnie's hair, like Elena's, was completely soaked.
"Don't even get started on the crowd at the pool today," Bonnie sipped her iced tea. "I think everyone in town was there except you guys."
"Yeah- how do you deal with screaming children?" Caroline asked Stefan. "They're so freaking shrill and now I have a headache and a sunburn. How the hell can I get a sunburn? I'm a freaking vampire."
"And yet she refused to leave," Bonnie reported.
"You're okay, though, right?" Elena asked, stealing some of Stefan's ice cream.
Caroline sighed. "Yeah. Just-how am I supposed to go to a rock concert?"
"Those are freaking awesome, especially if you're in the front row," Stefan jumped in. "But the hearing-you can moderate it; it just takes practice."
"Of course it does," Caroline grumbled and Bonnie laughed at her tone.
By the time Elena and Stefan got back to his house it was close to midnight; despite the fact that it had been another lazy day Elena was yawning, wearily pulling off her clothes grabbing one of Stefan's discarded shirts. She pulled her still-damp hair into a ponytail, figuring she'd untangle it in the morning. Stefan's hair, she noted with some jealousy, was pretty much back to normal, if slightly curlier than usual.
"Thanks for today," she murmured. They lay together in bed, Elena draped across Stefan's chest and he fisted her hair, letting it slide through his fingers before gently untangling the little knots. "It was perfect."
"Sex, swimming, sex, ice cream," Stefan said, his voice low and sexy, making Elena shiver. She began tracing the tattoo on his arm.
"What were thinking about earlier?" she asked. "At the lake, when-,"
"Lexi," Stefan replied. A lump grew in his throat and he automatically tightened his arm around Elena's waist, seeking comfort from her, reassuring himself that she was still there despite everything.
"Tell me," Elena tilted her head up to meet his eyes. She touched his face, tracing his jaw, his lips, cupping his cheek. "Tell me," She repeated, resting her head on his chest, ready to listen. "It's okay, Stefan."
So he did, telling her all about the time Lexi dragged him to Italy for New Year's, promising "spectacular fun" and he'd ended up jumping into the Trevi Fountain, completely naked and more than a little drunk.
It was late when they drifted off. Morning would come all too soon and it would start again, waking up and locking eyes, another lazy summer day. It wouldn't be any easier to get up, but that's something neither of them minded.