'Spring, summer, fall or winter?' Caroline said. She was clutching a book to her chest and looking at them both expectantly. The coffee table had a display of colorful lists and charts. They made Stefan nervous.
Klaus shrugged. Stefan shook his head.
'Oh come on one of you must have thought of this, must have created a Pinterest board,' Caroline sighed in frustration.
'No,' Stefan shook his head. Truth be told he never considered marriage before, not seriously. It was something that humans did.
'What's Pinterest?' Klaus asked with a tilt of his head.
'No,' Stefan said again pointedly eying Caroline. He could remembered getting lost for hours on the site one night and some of the pictures he found were...well Klaus would love it. It was a bad idea.
Bonnie handed Klaus her iPad. 'So you type in there what you want, like "gay wedding" and you're good to go.'
'No,' Stefan slumped back on the sofa and covered his face.
'All I see are bloody pictures of men kissing each other,' Klaus frowned. 'I'm only interested seeing that on Pornhub!'
Caroline covered her mouth but Bonnie blushed. Elena screwed her nose up.
'Like you've never watched anything dirty,' Damon waggled his eyebrows at the girls.
'I find it...' Elena rolled her shoulders.
'Hot,' Bonnie said. 'Move on. Klaus, let me explain how to make a board. It'll let us know what you like.'
'Mini bar in a jar, cakes, layout, hey Stefan there's even outfit ideas here,' Klaus said. He nudged Stefan and showed him what was on the screen. 'Get my iPad.'
'Get it yourself,' Stefan said.
'I'm supposed to be your most precious girlfriend,' Klaus complained.
'Fiancé,' Stefan said tiredly, but he got up and dragged himself upstairs.
It was quiet in his bedroom, there was no talk of weddings and Pinterest and fucking seasons. Stefan bypassed Klaus' iPad that was lying on his desk and dropped onto his bed. He rested his head on his folded arms and closed his eyes.
Stefan was exhausted, lately he'd had trouble sleeping, because he had no idea if this was a passing phase for Klaus. Sure he knew Klaus loved him, but Klaus had been around a long time, and he was immortal - almost impossible to kill. Compared to Klaus Stefan was young.
Someday Klaus might tire of the mornings where Stefan didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to live anymore. The days when a face or a smell, or even a song would trigger a long buried memory. The days when it all got too much and the pain licked at his mind. Granted those days were becoming fewer, but they were still there at the back of Stefan's mind.
Klaus may be obsessed with Stefan as he had professed to be many times, but Stefan was soul deep in love with Klaus. Losing him terrified Stefan, because losing Klaus would mean Stefan's demons had a chance to wrangle their way back into his mind.
'Hey,' Elena said from the doorway.
'Hi,' Stefan sat up.
'Are you okay?' Elena sat on the edge of the bed. 'You've been up here for a long time.'
'Just thinking,' Stefan assured her.
'You're okay with getting married aren't you. I know that vampire married is a bit more permanent than normal married,' Elena said. 'And not just because of the eternity thing.'
'I'm okay with it, I wouldn't have proposed if I wasn't Elena. Nik's my soul mate I don't want to live without him,' Stefan got up and reached for Klaus' iPad. A picture of his abs were Klaus' lock screen and he showed Elena who giggled. Stefan shook his head, he didn't remember the picture being taken, it looked like he was asleep. 'Nik is high maintenance, he's dangerous, he's adorable.'
'Well your soul mate is getting impatient downstairs,' Elena said.
'Yes, we had better go down before he murders someone important like Damon,' Stefan agreed.
'What kept you?' Klaus pouted and pulled him down onto the sofa. He ignored the iPad in favor of wrapping an arm around Stefan's shoulder. Stefan leaned into him and closed his eyes, as around him everybody planned his wedding.
'Don't worry love,' Klaus whispered into his hair.
Stefan kissed Klaus' jaw and stretched his leg out to hook with Klaus' ankle.
'Love you,' Stefan said. Oddly, with all the noise and drama going on, Stefan fell asleep.