~ Shards of Sapphire ~
Stefan and Elena were on a date at the local thrift store (because there are a limited number of exciting date location options in a small rural town, and this was one of the few places that Elena normally wouldn't have gone), checking out the odd things people had donated.
"What is that thing?" Elena said, frowning as she pointed at a threadbare purple stuffed... possibly-animal thing.
"It's a California Raisin," Stefan replied, recognizing the mascot immediately.
Elena just stared at him blankly.
"You know, the California Raisins..." She still showed no sign of knowing what he was talking about so Stefan conceded, "Maybe that was before your time."
Elena huffed and walked away from him to look at something on a different shelf.
When they got to the part of the store where dishes were displayed, Stefan perused the drinking glasses with thoughtful consideration, and picked up several with apparent intent to buy them. After a moment, he frowned and put them back on the shelf.
"What?" Elena asked, somehow having the grace not to voice her full question, which was more along the lines of what the hell are you doing?
"I'm so used to having to replace our glasses all the time because Damon's always breaking them," Stefan answered, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "But he's been a lot better about not doing that lately."
"Really?" Elena asked. "That's kind of surprising. He does get angry and break things a lot."
"Yeah, well... he's gotten better at reining in his temper since Rose moved in with us. A couple weeks ago I got some glasses that have a flower pattern on them, and when Damon broke one of them, she was like 'Oh no, that one was my favorite.' So... now when he feels like smashing a glass, he stops to check the pattern on it and make sure it's not one of the flower ones, and the few seconds it takes him to do that is apparently enough time for him to decide not to impulsively smash something, even if it's not his girlfriend's favorite glass."
"Wow."
Stefan felt bad about leaving the shop without buying anything, so he ended up getting the stuffed California Raisin. Elena was not amused.
~oOo~