A/N: i'm currently writing this note after reaching 400 followers, and i'm just... speechless.
i adore you all ;)
it's late here, so i might have to edit this again later, but i really hope you guys enjoy this BEAST of a chapter!
Tumblr: randomfandoming1, blog named, the musings of a fangirl. (i made some terrible manips on there to celebrate reaching 400 followers, just search nova's name and it should pop up)
Shoplook(fashion): randomfandoming
Pinterest(beware of spoilers, but also, my plot changes a lot tbh): Miss Fandom, board name: Vampire Diaries Fanfiction; Supernova
Spotify: bluestarling, playlist name: supernova
no smut this time, but a little warning that drugs are mentioned and some characters do them. this is fiction. don't do drugs kids (but if u do ignore my warning, don't do them alone, or with strangers who won't keep u safe)
edited 2/11/2020 because sleep-deprived me called a joint a blunt and annabelle - annabeth for some odd reason?
Bonnie was thankfully just being a little shit and the food wasn't burnt, it was fucking delicious and they all pretty much ate a whole quiche by themselves.
They had breakfast in the living room so they could watch shit shows on TLC, but soon the twins pulled themselves up from the couch to get dressed.
This time, her little sister managed to win the race to the bathroom with the shower, and by the triumph look on her face, she would probably be in there for a very long time.
Nova let her sister's revenge go with a resigned sigh, before reluctantly bringing her things into the bathroom downstairs. Everything so far was going as routine, she bathed until her fingers became raisins before taking her time getting dressed in her room.
She oiled her wet hair, twisting it into a bun before pulling on some blue jeans that had a garter belt that wrapped around her thigh and slipping her black 'Best Bi' tee over a black sweater.
Nova was in the middle of pulling everything out of her clutch and placing it into her backpack when her boring morning routine was interrupted.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." She quietly cursed when her nails scratched against the fabric of her empty purse, even shaking the goddamn thing until crumbs and coins were scattered on her bed.
The moonstone was gone, and unless the moonstone had grown legs without her knowledge, it had been stolen. She threw her clutch down onto her bed with a drawn-out exhale, her hands clenched into fists as she realized who had stolen it.
"Damon Salvatore, you thieving little shit," she mused out loud.
Merlin paused in licking his fur to send her a Look™ from his perch on her bedside trunk, his look gave her some serious 'I told you so' vibes that just made her even more annoyed.
She paced around her room as she tried to calm down and think.
Nova was an intelligent and cunning Witch who got shit done, and she tried to stay five steps ahead of everyone else, for her and her friend's and family survival... and because the look of shock on people's faces was fucking hilarious.
But, well, she was also the sucker who just got Damon'd.
All of her paranoia had gone into the spell, and so the moonstone had been put on the back burner amid everything else; the blood sharing, the orgasm, the nightmare that poked at her insecurities, the honestly very vulnerable dream sharing, etc.
She didn't feel betrayed or too surprised by the theft, it was his M.O to do this kind of shit after being put in a vulnerable situation like he had been last night at the Lockwoods. She had been expecting his special brand of bullshit to happen sooner or later, especially after their Deal had been concluded.
Nova was impressed that he managed to get one up on her like this, but it still didn't take away from the fact that she was about to get real fucking petty if he didn't give it back.
She sat down on her bed with a huff, grabbing her phone from her pillow she aggressively dialed his number, ready to fill his voicemail with foul insults.
What she wasn't expecting was for him to answer.
"How's my favorite witch doing on this lovely afternoon?" Damon answered the phone, the positively cheerful sound of his voice doing nothing to quell her anger.
Cocky little shit.
"Fan-fucking-tastic! Give me back what you stole and it'll be even better," she said just as sunnily, biting her tongue to keep herself from yelling and alerting the rest of the house.
Damon hummed thoughtfully, his tone deeply amused as he replied, "Now why would I do that after going through the trouble of stealing it?"
Nova highly doubted him swiping the moonstone from her purse while she was sleeping could be considered as 'trouble' - no, what she considers trouble is the painful as fuck spell she had used to track down the damn thing.
"Because I'll tear through every inch of Mystic Falls looking for it if you don't return it to me, you fucking asshole of a thief," she snapped back, quickly dropping the forced cheerful tone.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Willow, but aren't you the real thief here? I wonder how the Lockwoods would feel if I told them you stole from them?"
He was bluffing... probably. She had covered her tracks with a fake moonstone and there were very few who could tell the difference, but... there were witnesses, she remembered Kaya and her boy toy.
They were compelled to forget but they could be just as easily be compelled to tell the Lockwoods, or fucking Sheriff Forbes, that they had caught Nova Bennett stealing from Mayor Lockwood's office.
Alone.
God, fucking damn it.
Compulsion was a bitch.
Nova decided to ignore his taunting question, "Why do you want it anyway? It's fucking useless to you," right now, at least, she silently added.
"You told me yourself. Katherine wants the damn thing. She can come and get it herself."
Nova sighed loudly into the phone, pinching the bridge of her nose because offuckingcourse it was about her, who else could it be about other than a doppelganger?
As sympathetic as she was, she didn't have time for his sire issues, the moonstone needed to be safely hidden away before anyone a bit more knowledgeable figured out that the one the Lockwoods had was a fake.
Or else all of her plans were fucked, at least the good ones.
"...How do you even know she'd take your very obvious bait?" She forced her voice to remain calm, but well, several strands had already fallen out of her bun from the rough treatment it was getting from her fingers.
"Because, one of the things that made me fall in love with her was her ruthless ability to get whatever the hell she wants, ergo she won't give a fuck about it being a trap. Least of all from me, a younger vampire she turned."
It wasn't the worst plan in the world, but there were plenty of flaws in it, one of them being that she'd kick his ass, but that was the best-case scenario because compared to Katherine she was as sweet as fucking chocolate to him.
Nova might not know Katherine as personally as him, but she knew her well enough to know she would either threaten, manipulate or torture the information she needed out of him and break his heart along the way.
But she was also ninety percent sure he was desperate enough to not give a shit about that if it meant seeing Katherine, also known as the woman who had basically ghosted him for about two human lifetimes.
Hm, that has to be a record, right?
"Where are you?" Nova changed the subject once again, carefully listening to the sound of tires going over rough terrain.
"Ah, that would be telling, wouldn't it sweetheart? As much I love hearing your threats, I'm a little busy at the moment - but don't worry, I'll take good care of the stone."
Nova heard a car door slam, and then her phone softly beeped twice, pulling it away from her ear made her belatedly realize that the call had ended.
Motherfucker -
She was seconds away from calling him back if only to leave a couple more threats in his voicemail, but then her eyes caught her Familiar's and well -
"Hey, sweetie," she started, his vibrant green eyes looking at her warily as she stalked towards him with a grin.
"You wanna help me track the shady asshole?"
Although the dream-sharing spell was no longer in effect, they had shared blood not too many hours ago, his blood was still running through her veins, as was her blood running through his.
Those blood connections should, in theory, help her find out where the asshole was through a simple location spell. In theory.
Merlin would have to do the actual tracking down though, considering that - although her dad allowed the twins some wiggle room with it being winter break and all - something told her tracking him down won't lead her to the boarding house.
Nova carefully unfolded an old map of Mystic Falls - Grams had given both her and Bonnie a handful of maps years ago, for them to practice spells with - and laid it on the floor, away from the rugs that cushioned her butt.
Merlin sat in front of her on the other side of the map, his vibrant green eyes on her as she pierced the skin on her thumb with a sewing needle.
She watched her blood drip onto the yellowed map for a moment, before closing her eyes, focusing on the warmth of her Magic before she started chanting the words that had been drilled into her mind years ago.
"Phasmatos tribum nas ex veras, sequita saguines, ementas asten mihan ega petous." She could feel her Magic reacting to her words, but when she glanced at the map she saw the blood was unmoving.
"Now would be a good time to do some weird familiar magic," she told her Familiar, only receiving a stare in return, she sighed before closing her eyes again.
Nova breathed in and out, letting everything melt away from the wind hitting her window to the pain of her thumb still spilling fresh blood onto the map, and let herself sink into the Magic running through her veins.
"Phasmatos tribum nas ex veras, sequita saguines, ementas asten mihan ega petous!" She chanted the words like a curse, anger, and frustration lacing her words, fueling her Magic as it reacted to her words and will.
She opened her brown eyes once again, a little excited grin on her face as she closely watched as the blood moved, twisting around the map before stilling in its final spot.
Well then, she thought. He was still in Mystic Falls, so that was a minor relief, but wherever he was still far away; it was essentially the outskirts of town and she could only remember a few houses and buildings in that area.
Nova looked up when her Familiar let out a low noise that was too garbled to be named a meow, his green eyes were squinted in annoyance as he looked at the map and then up at her.
"Don't look at me like that, I can't control the idiocy of the Salvatore brothers any more than you can control mine," she said, folding her arms defensively as he continued to glare at her.
Merlin didn't put up much of a fuss, but he required many snacks and pets before he even left out of her room, let alone the house. Even though he protested strongly, she made sure to dress him in a little green turtle neck before he left out into the cold weather.
She could only hope that if her Familiar did find him, that he'd make sure to keep out of the way enough not to draw the Vampire's attention.
At least long enough for them to find out what the shady bitch was doing.
In the meantime, the twins were driven to the Gilbert residence by their dad - it was getting too cold to ride their bikes everywhere - and would be picked up in an hour or two so they could all go help set up for the Winter Festival.
While she had been busy dealing with today's bullshit Vampire Drama, her twin had called their best friends so they could gather at the Gilberts to talk about doppelgangers.
"Jenna is home, right?" Rudy asked, peering at the home through the passenger window with a furrowed brow.
The twins shared a look, it was a look filled with teenage exasperation and annoyance.
Nova kept her mouth shut and let her sister speak, seeing as her smart mouth probably wouldn't do them any favors when they were trying to be a more functional family.
"...I think so, but if she's not, she'll be home soon. Jenna wouldn't miss this year's winter festival," Bonnie replied, her voice wavering.
This would be the first Winter Festival without Grayson and Miranda, and well, if it was hurting the twins to think about it, she couldn't imagine what Elena, Jeremy, and Jenna were feeling.
Rudy turned around to look at his children, his brown eyes filled with remorse and an awkward pinched look on his face as he tried to think of something to comfort her.
"We'll be fine, dad. We won't even do anything illegal, scouts honor," Nova spoke up when she saw him struggling to find the right words, her tone purposely light as she flashed him the scout's three-fingered salute, her other fingers tangling with her sister's.
Bonnie squeezed her hand back, silently telling her that she would be ok.
Rudy relaxed somewhat, his concerned eyes were still on Bonnie as she gathered herself. "Last time I checked, I never signed you up to be a Girl Scout," he replied, trying to copy his eldest daughter's easy-going tone, and utterly failing.
But no one was as good as a liar as she was!
"Well no, but, I am in my heart, and isn't that what really counts, what's in your heart?" Nova was all drama as she pressed her free hand to her heart and looked at her father with a sorrowful look on her face.
She succeeded in exasperating her father and making her sister chuckle softly, and so she counted that as a major win in her book.
"I'll be here to pick you girls up at three, try to stay out of trouble until then," Rudy said as they exited the car in unison, the latter words were aimed at his eldest daughter.
Nova made an offended scoff, but before she could even think of a good response, their father was driving away.
"So rude. I would never. The audacity." She muttered under her breath just for the Drama of it, her sister all but dragging her away from the curb and towards their friend's house.
"Hey," Elena greeted them, nodding her head meaningfully towards Jenna, who was in the living room, knee-deep in books. "Care's already here," she continued, locking the door behind them while they shedded their coats.
"Hi, girls," Jenna said, her reader's glasses sliding down her face as she looked up and tossed them a quick smile.
"Hi, Jenna," the twins replied in unison, matching smiles on their faces as they greeted the other woman before following after their friend upstairs.
"So.. what is it you wanted to talk to us about?" Elena questioned as soon as the door was closed behind them.
Caroline was laying across the bed, her boots swinging in the air as she frowned at whatever she was looking at on her phone. The blonde girl only looked away from it when the eldest twin jumped face-first onto the end of the bed along with her.
"Uh, well, Nova figured out the reason why you and Katherine look alike," Bonnie told her, opting to sit down on the window seat instead.
Nova could almost feel everyone staring at her, making her reluctantly flip over onto her back so she could speak, but it took her a moment, to you know, find the right words.
"Um, so, doppelgangers are real, and you are one," she blurted out, tilting her head so she could look up at the doppelganger in question.
"Congrats?" She added when no one said anything after her inelegant outburst of words, and then - a pillow flew over towards her and hit her over the head before she could even blink.
"I'm sorry, but, how else was I supposed to fucking tell her, Bonnie?" Nova swiped the pillow from mid-air, squeezing it tightly until her sister stopped using telekinesis on it.
"I don't know, maybe with a little more sympathy?" Bonnie replied, her words biting enough to tell her twin that she was actually upset.
Nova sat up on her elbows, sending her friend an apologetic glance because she didn't mean to be an insensitive bitch; but still, telling them life-altering things wasn't easy.
It was more fun when she could do it to people who annoyed the shit out of her, like the Salvatores.
"It's fine. I just.. wasn't expecting that," Elena interjected, a lost look on her face as she kind of just stood in the middle of her room. Frozen in place.
"Okay, sorry to interrupt your weekly existential crisis, Elena, but, can someone tell me what being an actual doppelganger is?" Caroline looked over at the girl lying next to her, a confused look on her face.
Nova sat up so she could address them all properly, her brown eyes were kept in contact with Elena's as she tried to explain nearly everything she knew about Doppelgängers, which admittedly wasn't all that much.
"Doppelgangers are supernatural beings with mortal bodies. They're created by nature as a consequence of crazy powerful magic being done. It rarely happens but when it does, whoever was doing the spell will unknowingly create a shadow version of themselves who is born centuries later down their bloodline. Identical in appearance but ultimately not in personality. That process kinda just repeats itself..."
Nova continued to explain everything to her Doppelgänger friend in brutal detail - from how saught after Doppelgänger blood was, to how if Doppelgängers met they usually fuck up each other lives - until she had no more information left she could tell them.
She left out some stuff, of course, things that Nature warned her not to talk about, like the whole Tatia and the Originals shit show, as well as the fuck show that was Quetsiyah, Amara, and Silas.
Elena was silent for a long moment after she finished talking, her arms wrapped around her body as she thought tried to process what she had just been told.
"...Elena?" Bonnie calling her name seemed to jolt her out of whatever daze she found herself in, and the brunette all but collapsed in the window seat next to her.
"Sorry, I... it's just, a lot to process," Elena answered, letting out a deep sigh. "How'd our lives get this weird, this fast?"
"It kinda seems like our lives have always been freaky, we just never knew because our parents are like... the best liars," Caroline helpfully supplied, her eyes back on her phone.
"Mm, it kind of seems that way doesn't it," Elena replied with an unamused chuckle, a hint of resentment lacing her voice even as she leaned into the hug Bonnie was giving her.
Bonnie made a noise of agreement, her eyes meeting her sister's, "I don't think Grams would have told us about our magic so soon if Nova hadn't figured it out."
"No, definitely not," she replied, her chin digging into Caroline's shoulder as she tried to take a peek at what the other girl was looking at on her phone.
Caroline squirmed in her hold but didn't bother pushing her away, letting her look at the line of text messages she had sent to Matt, all of them were unanswered.
Nova didn't say anything, deciding that it would just have to be another thing she needed to talk about with her best friend.
"...it is a little fishy that after all of those obsessive history lessons on the founding families that we never heard of any Pierces being related to the Gilberts," Caroline wondered out loud, idle in her observation as she turned off her phone once again.
Ah, well, fuck, she thought.
Elena finding out about her resemblance to Katherine had been at the forefront of her mind, the drama with her being adopted was whole other drama that she had quite honestly forgotten.
But, her writings in her Journal had made it quite clear that Stefan would break the news to her after she found the picture of her evil twin. That was ages ago, meaning that, for whatever reason, the girl had been keeping this a secret from them.
Nova just barely stopped herself from visibly reacting to the blonde's comment, but she couldn't help but look up at Elena as she sat stiffly in Bonnie's hold, the troubled look on her face confirming her suspicion.
She wasn't the only one who noticed the girl's odd behavior, her sister looked at the downright skittish girl with a worried frown on her face.
"Lena? What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, her worried green eyes meeting her sister's brown ones as the other brunette pulled away from her hug.
"Did I say something wrong?" Caroline asked, her blue eyes wide once she realized the other girl was staring at her strangely.
Elena shook her head but didn't say anything as she stood up and opened her door, taking a long peek at the empty hallway to make sure that no one was listening outside the door before closing it once again.
"You're acting very suspect right now, what the fuck is going on?" Nova made herself ask, the look on her face hopefully was appropriately confused.
She felt shitty about the charade, and she'd quit the act and admit to knowing in a heartbeat if they asked, but the last thing she wanted was to have another argument with the girl.
"There's...something I wanna tell you guys," Elena finally said, an exhausted look on her youthful face.
The talk went relatively well, Caroline had been the most shocked - she says shocked but what she really means is dramatic -, but had been surprisingly quiet as she let their friend vent everything out into the open.
It took them a while to convince her that they wouldn't let this change the way they looked at her, as Elena Gilbert, daughter to Miranda and Grayson Gilbert.
Nova needed a break from all of the heavy topics though so she kind of just... left the room, using her bladder as an excuse to leave for a moment.
Leaving made her feel like a shit friend, but staying and pretending like she hadn't known made her feel even worse.
So she kind of just... sat on the lid of the toilet, staring at the blue geometric shower curtain, fantasizing about being a wild animal just so she could go into hibernation.
Nova was jolted from her daydreaming by a creaking sound, her head turned towards the sound and watched as the door opened.
Jeremy stared at her.
She stared back.
"Do I even wanna know what you're doing?" Jeremy asks after a beat of silence, looking at her with a mostly nonjudgemental look on his face.
Mostly.
"Avoiding emotional talks. Thinking about going into hibernation." Nova told him truthfully, giving him a humorless smile as they shared an understanding look.
She should make a t-shirt for them with the words 'Emotionally Inept, Depression Buddies', on them.
"Cool," he replied. "Could I... use the bathroom?" He seemed hesitant to interrupt her moment or whatever, but well, he actually had to use the bathroom, unlike her.
"Yeah, I mean it's your bathroom, dude," she said with a snort, looking towards the other door that led to Elena's room. But she wasn't ready to go back in yet, it had only been two minutes, she needed at least ten more minutes without any more emotional drama.
"I'll just hang out in your room until you're done!"
Jeremy huffed when she elbowed her way past him without waiting for him to reply but didn't say anything as he walked into the bathroom.
"Don't forget to wash your hands after you touch your dick!" Nova reminded him, getting a death glare as a response before he slammed the bathroom door in her face.
What? It was good advice!
Nothing much had changed since the last time she had been in here, it still smelled like stinky socks and too much body spray and looked like a tornado had swept through. But she still wasted no time in rambling in his stuff to distract herself.
She didn't touch anything too personal, like the closed drawing pads scattered around his room, or his computer - even though she had already memorized his password years ago -, but she did look in his closet and at his collection of CDs.
Nova loved emo bands, but god, it looked like it was that was the only thing the kid listened too, well, that and Kpop, it wasn't a very broad selection, but she made do with it.
Jeremy came back into his room to find her faceplanted on his shittly made-up bed, listening to The Black Parade by MCR on his scratched up portable CD player.
'Mama, we're all gonna die!
Stop asking me questions! I'd hate to see you cry!
Mama, we're all gonna die!'
He tugged on a stray curl to announce his presence before going back to doing whatever the fuck he had been doing on his computer. Probably porn, she thought, watching him skittishly change the tab once he noticed her staring.
Nova managed to pull herself from the pillows and sat up on her knees, a devious smile growing on her face as she let the headphones fall around her neck, music still reaching her ears as she talked.
"So, I found something really interesting in your room.."
"What the hell? You went through my stuff? Wh - what'd you find?" Jeremy spun his chair around, his big puppy dog eyes wide as he stared at her.
She eyed him oddly as she had expected him to snap at her for snooping through his shit, not turn into a puddle of anxiety. She tried to dismiss the nagging feeling that was telling her something was up and instead pulled something out of her tiny jean pocket.
"Oh, uh, where did you find that?" Jeremy asked, suddenly looking relaxed, too relaxed for someone who had just gotten his secret joint stash unearthed.
He should never play poker, she thought, an amused smile on her lips.
"You're closet, in one of your shoes," she told him a matter of factly, as though looking inside of shoes was normal. To be fair, on herself, she had been planning on stealing the black leather converses, not finding weed in them.
Jeremy huffed at her with a roll of his eyes before standing up and snatching the joint from her fingers. "It's an old stash. I promise I'll get rid of it as soon as Aunt Jenna is in her room. Just, please don't tell Elena, she'll freak." He all but pleaded with her.
As far as she could tell, excluding whatever it was he was being sketchy about, it seemed like he was being genuine about the weed. Which was good, but also not what she was after.
"Okay, or we could just," she sat up on the bed, snatching the joint back with a devious look on her face. "Smoke it?"
"..Really? You'd be cool with me smoking pot?" Jeremy asked incredulously, watching her with his arms crossed.
"Listen, Jerbear," she started, ignoring the sigh he let out, she stuck the cd player into the waistband of her jeans so she was free to grab his shoulders before continuing once he looked at her again.
"You're not just my friend, you're family. And I'd be the biggest hypocrite if I got upset about you smoking pot. But I caught you using hardcore street drugs too, the kind that fucking ruins people's lives and kills teenagers like us every day. And then you started dealing like you were trying to be Jesse Pinkman or some shit. It scared the shit out of us."
Jeremy looked away from her sharp gaze again but didn't deny her words, his shoulders hutching underneath her hands as he stuffed his hands in his black hoodie.
"So, yeah, we're gonna share your last joint and then you're gonna tell me how you're doing in your classes now while we wait for it to kick in," she declared, ignoring her vibrating phone in favor of pushing him towards the windows near his desk.
Jeremy let out an amused snort, pulling a chipped black lighter from his desk drawer as she raised his windows. "We're about to get high and you want to talk about school?" He asked, incredulously.
He had a point, but sue her, she was curious if all the study sessions and her constant texts to him reminding him to do his fucking homework had paid off even a little bit.
"Well, I mean, we could always talk about what you're hiding on your computer instead?" Nova challenged with a raised brow, grabbing the lighter from him and playing with it as he toweled the doors.
"Yeah, no school is fine," Jeremy hurriedly replied, turning on the fan in the corner of his room and pointing it towards her.
Yeah, that's what she thought.
"It's been easier to pay attention, now that I'm catching up with the rest of the class," he continued, making sure to lock both doors.
"That's great, Jer!" Nova told him, giving him a proud little grin as she flicked the lighter twice before the flame stayed.
Music still came from the cheap headphones hanging around her neck, the song was sort of fitting, she thought as she watched the flame burn the joint.
Because the drugs never work
They're gonna give you a smirk
'Cause they got methods of keepin' you clean
They gonna rip up your heads
Your aspirations to shreds
Another cog in the murder machine
They said all
Teenagers scare
The living shit out of me!
"Is, uh, everything, okay? With you and my sister?" Jeremy asks when she ignores a text from said sister, inquiring where the fuck she was, but like, in nicer words.
Her phone buzzed on the doodled on and scratched up windowsill, alerting both of them to another message.
'Are you ok? - Elena'
No, she wasn't.
She probably needed therapy.
Nova placed the joint in her mouth, sharply inhaling the smoke into her lungs before exhaling out the window. She watched the smoke disappear out the window for a moment before passing the joint towards him.
What a good influence she was, she thought sarcastically, trying not to shiver from the fan at their back that was making sure the smoke went out the window and the freezing gust of wind that slapped them in the faces.
"We're fine, Jerbear. I'm just having an anti-social moment, they understand," she reassured him, and it wasn't a lie.
Nova's had days where she would ghost them for days or weeks, just so she could disappear into her sheets and pretend the world outside the door didn't exist. She still felt a little bad though and decided to send off a quick text to all of them to let them know she hadn't drowned in the toilet or gotten kidnapped by Vampires.
'i just need a minute to be emo - Nova'
Nova would rather be alone right now, away from human interaction, but she knew wanting and needing were two different things. And the last thing she needed was to drown further into her thoughts, which is what she would do if she was left alone.
"So, have you made any new friends lately? Or girlfriends?" Nova changed the subject, grabbing the offered joint from his hand and taking another hit.
She knew she couldn't use weed, vodka, or sex to solve her problems but it would have to do for right now.
Maybe she should try yoga? Yoga was supposed to be relaxing, right?
"Uh, no, not really," he replied, shifting his eyes away from her and towards the view outside, the sun was shining brightly but the air was cold and thin clouds were spread across the sky.
"Jeremy Gilbert, are you fucking blushing?" she said with a laugh, coughing up smoke as she caught sight of his red cheeks. Aaah, so fucking adorable!
"Fuck off," Jeremy told her, no bite in his tone despite his words, but he did steal the joint back from her when she continued to giggle.
"So.. come on, tell me, who is she?" she asked once she had managed to calm her uncontrollable giggles, a teasing grin on her face.
"You wouldn't know her." Jeremy dismissed.
"Well, tell me her name anyway. First and last please, so I can stalk her on Myspace. Or have we moved to Facebook now? Twitter?"
"Now I'm definitely not telling you her name."
"So rude... but, is she like banging hot, or adorably cute?"
Jeremy took a long hit to avoid talking to her, but eventually, after a long staring contest between them - in which she made funny faces at him until he cracked a grin -, he answered her question.
"Hot. Anna is pretty hot."
Ah, well... shit were the words running through her now hazy mind.
"Ooh, her name is Anna, huh?" Nova teased him, her grin sharper as she glared at a nearby tree, as though it was at fault for ruining her high.
Fucking Vampires.
"This is why I never told you about Vicki," he told her, reluctantly handing the quickly burning joint over towards her awaiting fingers.
"Oh, please, everyone knew about your crush Vicki," she snorted, just letting the joint sit in her mouth for a long moment before she inhaled an obscene amount.
Nova had thought she had made it quite clear to Anna that if she wanted to keep her mother, and her life, that she should get the fuck out of Mystic Falls. It had been a warning as much as a threat.
Seriously, just, fuck Vampires.
"Great," Jeremy huffed at the news, yanking his hoodie up onto his head to either warm himself up or hide his embarrassment.
As much as she would love to just chalk this up to old news and hope the teen hadn't seen the Vampire lately, the question needed to be asked.
"When's the last time you saw your hot new girlfriend?" Nova kept up her teasing grin, which was easier to do when high, thank god.
"She's not my girlfriend... two days ago, at the library."
...Well, fuck her slowly with a chainsaw.
Nova couldn't really do anything about the whole... Anna-banana still being in town right now, so she just let herself enjoy her high.
Once they finished smoking the last of the joint, they ended up laying on the floor, his cd player now basting Panic! At The Disco's first album, aka the only other cd in his possession that didn't make her more depressed.
She had dug through his drawer when he wasn't looking and found some eyeliner to entertain herself, giving herself a cat eye to go over the dramatic pink, purple and blue eyeshadow already on her lids.
And now she was in the middle of giving him a banging smokey eye as he rambled about how he wasn't sure he was over Vicki but Anna was really hot - which was true - and nice - eh, that one was a little dubious - if a little weird and then -
An odd warm sensation rolled down her spine, her eyes zoning out as she concentrated on the feeling; images flashed before her eyes, too fleeting to really focus on them, before finally settling on just one.
Nova was dimly aware that she was looking through Merlin's eyes as she adjusted to the less colorful vision and the sight of enormous trees surrounding her - him - them.
Merlin weaved through trees for a moment, before suddenly coming to a stop, his footsteps softer now as he crept closer. At first, she didn't realize what had caught his eyes, but then a house came into view; it was a small two-story brick house, surrounded by rows of bare trees, leaves cluttered around the house.
At first, she was confused, there was no sign of the older Salvatore brother anywhere but then she saw someone walk out the front door. They were only just a little taller than Nova, but what they lacked in height they made up with some serious head bitch in charge energy.
Pearl, she realized as Anna, her daughter, joined her on the porch.
The mother-daughter duo quietly walked away from the house until they were uncomfortably close to where Merlin was hiding behind the thickest tree. They only relaxed when the Vampires finally walked past him.
"You wanted to talk?" Pearl questioned her daughter, looking at home in her modern clothes consisting of a black pants suit and matching kitten heels.
"Yes, mother. I just believe that this new arrangement is a little more trouble than it's worth." Anna folded her arms, watching her mother as the woman took a deep breath, her dark eyes roaming the woods.
"We have more important concerns than little boys who don't know their place, Annabelle. Damon Salvatore is of little concern to us, as long as he does as told, our agreement should work out just fine." Pearl was quick to dismiss her daughter's worries, her eyes still roaming around the trees.
Merlin swiftly tucked himself closer towards the tree when her dark brown eyes roamed closer towards the area where he was hiding.
Nova held her breath as she waited for the Vampire to find him, her heart beating loudly in her chest. She was so nervous she wouldn't be surprised if Merlin could feel her anxiety through their Bond.
She only relaxed when the Vampire looked away, hopefully mistaking him for a wild animal.
Merlin, learning his lesson, simply relied on his apparently super hearing.
"It's not him I'm concerned about, mother. But he's friends-"
"With a competent teenage witch with an ego. I know, Annabelle. You've reminded me more than once. We'll deal with the witches at a later, but for now -"
Nova never got to find out what they were going to say because someone decided to poke her cheek, startling her out of the Familiar Magic that had taken hold of her vision.
"How high did that one joint get you?" Jeremy asked, his eyes lined with black eyeliner looking up at her with amusement in them.
She blinked down at him, trying to make sense of his words, but then she beamed down at him when her brain caught up.
"Really...fucking high," she whispered, for some reason, before going back to lining his bottom eyelids.
She wanted to start making plans, to get the moonstone back and for Anna and Pearl, but she was fucking high and she had the attention span of a puppy when she was high.
Fuck, she had such shitty timing.
Nova blinked slowly, and somehow found herself looking at the ceiling, eyeliner gone from her hand and Jeremy's eyeliner perfectly finished, like magic!
Shit had she used Magic?!
Grams would throttle her for using her powers so frivolously... but she supposed what the elder Witch didn't know wouldn't get...
God, she was starving.
"We should order pizza," she said, her words slow and quiet as she began daydreaming about having a giant cheesy pizza with olives, spinach, and sausage all to herself.
"Or burritos," Jeremy responded next to her, not sounding nearly as fucked up as her - which was, unfair - but still very much a teenage boy who loved food.
"Mm, both is good!" Nova turned to grin at him but frowned in confusion when her hair fell in her face - when the fuck did she take her hair out her bun?
Nova stopped playing with her hair when she heard a knocking sound, her eyes moving to look at Jeremy, who was just chilling next to her, the headphones he had stolen from her on his ears.
They shared a glance at the sound.
"Was that you?" She leaned in to question, but even as she asked it, she wondered why he would knock on his own door when he could just come in.
"No... I'm right here," Jeremy reminded her, giving her a look that told her he thought she was being stupid.
Whoever had knocked on the door, knocked again.
"Shit."
"Fuck."
Nova giggled again when they cursed at the same time, but quickly pressed her hands onto her mouth to muffle the noise. "I'm not here," she whispered, attempting to hide under the bed, but she was stopped by a hand on her arm and the stinky socks blocking her path.
"You should really wash those," Nova told him solemnly, even as he yanked her up off of the floor before hurrying around the room to clean up their mess.
"Nova! I know you're there! You're dad's here to pick you guys up and I refuse for you to make us late!" Caroline's voice came from the other side of the door, sounding extremely annoyed.
Nova simply opened the door before Caroline got more upset, the blonde could be super scary when she was annoyed.
Jeremy let out a sound of protest as he had only just turned off the fan and closed the windows, but his t-shirts and towels were still stuffed underneath the door.
She kicked at the offending objects as it jammed the door from opening all the way, but quickly forgot about them when she saw her best friend on the other side of the door.
"Caroline!" Nova wasn't oblivious to the annoyed look on the blonde's face, but she grinned at her in hopes of it helping her escape the other's ire.
The blonde girl opened her mouth, but whatever brutal remark she was going to make was cut off with a hug.
"I'm sorry for being a shit friend and ditching you guys. I just got depressed and needed to have a moment, without making Lena's moment about me." Nova quietly mumbled into the other girl's neck, her nose twitching as blonde hair tickled her.
It reminded her of sunshine.
"Your hair is really pretty today..."
Caroline slowly returned the hug, her eyes filled with confusion as she looked towards Jeremy for an explanation for her mood swings, but he only stood quietly and awkwardly in the door archway.
The blonde rolled her eyes at the helpful boy and took charge of the situation, patting her head twice before gently pushing her away so she could look her in the eyes.
"Let's get one thing straight, Nova Amelia Bennett," Caroline said, ignoring her amused quip of 'But I'm not straight'. "You're a really good friend, the best friend ever, and we love you so so much, and just, feel free to ditch us whenever you feel like you need to get away from us."
Nova smiled at the other girl, touched by the girl's words, but she was also kind of distracted by her stomach, reminding her that she was hungry for pizza and burritos.
"But please stop being such an idiot! Elena always has a freaking moment, she has about a billion freaking moments a day." Caroline told her, making said girl's brother snort in a silent agreement.
"My point is that you are entitled to your own moment, and we wanna be there for you like you're there for us when we're having a bad day. Even when you're being emo or hanging out with them," the blonde finished, aiming a bitchy look at Jeremy for the last part.
"...You're so mean and sweet at the same time," Nova responded once she fully processed the words being spoken to her, her arms went back around the other girl for another hug.
Caroline stilled this time at the hug, her mind working so hard both teens could practically hear her thought process.
Nova was normally pretty affectionate and handsy, but she turned downright clingy when she was high.
When the blonde finally worked it out, she gasped like she had found out something particularly scandalous.
"Oh. my. god! You're both freaking high, aren't you?"
Caroline agreed to stay quiet about her being high as a kite, but she wouldn't stop shooting her amused and judging glances as she caught a ride with them to the Town Square.
Nova knew she probably looked odd with flamboyant sunglasses on her face, hiding her enlarged pupils, her cheek squished against the window, but.. she didn't think it was that funny.
Thankfully, the car ride was short or at least being high made it seem like it was, and no one really said anything to her, which was good because she was ninety percent sure something stupid would come out of her mouth.
Caroline rambled to Bonnie and Rudy about everything that needed to get done before the Winter Festival could officially start.
The Winter Festival and Tree Lighting was a town event, in which probably half of the town participated in decorating the Town Square with holiday decorations - well, she says holiday decorations, but what she really meant was Christmas decorations.
In her opinion, the fun bit was after the decorations, when the Festival was in full swing and the teens of MFHS exchanged their Secret Santa gifts.
Two weeks before winter break every kid going to the high school was forced to participate in the annual Secret Santa. The teens were usually separated by their year and gender before they were given a piece of paper with the person they had to pick out a gift written on it.
The gifts always got opened during the Winter Festival, it was honestly the only reason she participated in the Winter Festival every year now. She liked watching her friends open their gifts and try to guess who had given them the gift for the rest of the night.
Almost as soon as the rest of their group had arrived - Jenna, Jeremy, Elena, and Grams - they were assigned chores to partake in.
Elena and the twins were in charge of sewing the popcorn garland together to go on the freshly cut trees that were being hauled in. So far they had only finished three long pieces of garland, which sadly wouldn't be enough to wrap around the four smaller trees and the enormous main tree that was being placed in the center of the Town Square.
Nova had sadly started to sober up by the time they had finished the third garland, but she was still fucking starving and the smell of someone setting up the food booths didn't help.
"Catch," Elena said, throwing a piece of popcorn at her.
Nova was still too high to be fast enough to catch it, and it hit her on her cheek instead of in her mouth.
The brown-haired girl covered her mouth, but her smile stretched so wide on her face it was impossible to hide.
Nova briefly wondered if the other girl had read her mind and heard her wish for food, but this wasn't exactly what she had in mind.
She smiled mischievously when she found the popcorn on the collar of her purple faux fur coat and threw it back in revenge. She ended up watching in amazement as the other girl craned her neck before skillfully catching it in her mouth, chewing on it with a smug grin on her face.
Ugh, show off.
Bonnie laughed at their play fighting, now the only one doing the work as they started throwing popcorn at each other.
"Okay, shit, you win," she said, ceding defeat when the other girl caught three in her mouth at once. "Fucking giraffe."
"I heard that."
"I know, that's why I didn't whisper it. Giraffe."
The three of them had broken into giggles by the time Caroline checked on their progress, judging by the displeased look on her face it either wasn't good enough or something had happened.
Shit, she hoped no one had died.
"Who died?" Nova voiced her thoughts out loud, her slim cat-eye sunglasses sliding down her nose as she looked over at the girl with concern in her eyes.
"No one," Caroline replied, but the other girls looked at her with dubious expressions on their faces. "It's just, my dad, says he can't make it. Steven's daughter is sick with the flu."
The three of them shared a glance at the news, all of them more than likely thinking the same, before Bonnie, the closest one next to her, pulled her into a side hug.
Nova hadn't met Steven or his daughter just yet, probably never would at this rate, but from what she had heard from her best friend, Steven was an okay dude and his daughter was a cool kid.
Emma was a sweet ten-year-old who thought Caroline looked like a princess, but still… this would be the third time Mr. Forbes had bailed on an event that he would have to interact with his ex-wife for longer than five minutes.
"Well, tell him to throw some Nyquil and a can of soup at the kid and get over here before I drag his ass here," Nova said, folding her arms with an unimpressed frown on her face.
"What I think she meant to say is that, can't Steven take care of her?" Bonnie hurriedly said, shooting her sister an exasperated look.
Nova shrugged her shoulders, pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear when she almost ate it instead of popcorn. She was just voicing all of their thoughts, kids were disgusting little shits, they got sick all the time, but as long the kid was vaccinated and hydrated she should be fine.
"He's sick too," Caroline told them, pouting while she busied herself with helping them finish the last giant garland.
"I'm sorry, Care. I know you were really looking forward to him visiting," Elena said, a sympathetic frown on her face as she reached behind Bonnie to squeeze the blonde's shoulder.
"Yeah, well, duh, but there's always next year!" Caroline tried for positivity, forcing a grin on her face that soon turned genuine when she saw them continue to eat the popcorn. "Now! Let's get these garlands on the trees before they end up on your hips."
Nova snorted when the blonde gave them a sweet smile after roasting them before waltzing off with the finished garland in hand.
Elena checked behind her to make sure the blonde wasn't looking before she grabbed a handful of popcorn at the same time the twins did.
Nova joined in on their infectious laughter, her heart melting at the sight of them so carefree after the stressful months they've had.
By the time they finished decorating the sun had gone down and everyone was shivering as the weather had decided to say hey, let's give these bastards some snow.
At first, people had acted as though they hadn't seen snow before - which, she supposed some of them haven't, seeing as Mystic Falls didn't really see snow regularly - but the adults had gotten sick of it when two hours had passed and it hadn't stopped snowing.
The small kids and teens, however, had taken advantage of the building snow and had minor snowball fights with friends and built small snowmen with the rest.
Elena's hair was still wet from where the twins had thrown snowballs at her.
After Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood put the gold star tree topper on the main tree, the students of MFHS gathered around the enormous tree that was decorated with silver bulbs, big red bows, paper snowflakes, popcorn garland, and multicolored lights.
The girls chatted together excitedly as they each found the presents with their name on it before huddling together with the rest of the teens in their year on the blanketed snow-covered grass.
The twins spotted their dad and Grams near the food booth, both adults had serious looks on their faces as they spoke to each other. But they pretended as though nothing was wrong when they caught the twins looking.
"What do you think that was about?" Bonnie asked her sister, her green eyes moving from the suspicious acting adults and towards the small square box in her hands, her fingers peeling off the green and purple wrapping.
Nova could only shrug in reply, her present remaining untouched for the moment as she took the time to watch everyone unwrap their presents.
Bonnie pulled out a beautiful bracelet out of the box, a soft smile was on her face as she put it on her wrist; it was gold metal with black beads in the middle and a gold feather hanging from the middle.
The feather made her believe that it was probably from Elena or Caroline. Based on the proud little grin on her face, she was betting on it being the blonde.
Caroline was staring at Matt ever so often but eventually focused on opening the box small pink box that had a pretty red bow on it. "Please be expensive jewelry," the blonde kept chanting.
But the blonde wasn't a Witch and so her chants went largely unheard, there was an offended look on her face as she pulled out a snowglobe of Mystic Falls, of all things.
Nova snorted at the anticlimactic reveal but quickly glanced somewhere else when her friend aimed a glare in her direction.
Elena was cuddled up to Stefan, who had unwrapped his present already and was curiously looking at the leather bracelet, a speculative look on his face.
Once Elena unwrapped her gift, it revealed a book, which was a go-to gift to give the girl who likes to read and write. The brunette looked happy with the gift though, as she leaned back more on Stefan's chest and flipped towards the first page once all of the wrapping was off of it.
Matt and Tyler were talking to each other about something she couldn't hear, their presents already torn into and laid forgotten on the plaid blanket underneath them.
Matt had gotten headphones, which would be a decent gift if they didn't look cheap. Someone had gotten Tyler a football because that's what you get for a rich kid who probably has a million footballs.
Nova, not wasting another moment, quickly opened the pretty green box that had silver stars on them. She threw the lid like a frisbee, simply smiling at the sound of someone crying out, 'hey', telling her that she had definitely hit someone with it.
Looking inside, she found an expensive looking wooden chest inside and was careful to gently pull it out. She eagerly flipped the gold latch on the front of it and hurriedly opened it to see what was inside.
The chest was filled with a long line of tubes of acrylic paint that would last even her months, that was nice enough for a gift, but then she noticed two drawers on the bottom.
When she slid those open, she found big tubes of oils and watercolor paints in one drawer, and in other, she found two charcoal pencils and more colored ones, two blending stumps, an eraser and soft to the touch brushes.
Wow, well, shit…
These supplies were the kind she was too frugal to spend her money on, it had to be around at least a hundred bucks worth of art supplies. Whoever had gotten this for her was either a really nice friend, or trying to get into her pants.
She looked up at the teenagers around her with narrowed eyes.
Nova stared at Stefan for a brief moment, only staring harder at him when he looked over at her, but he only sent a confused little 'May I help you?' smile towards her.
Hm, he was wealthy enough, but probably not him, considering she was his Secret Santa, and so she continued to look over her classmates again. But, really, there were only three people she could think of that could afford this gift and would actually get it for her.
Stefan was ruled out already.
Bonnie was too busy looking over the art set in amazement, so unless her sister was getting better at acting, that ruled her out so that just left…
Nova kept quiet about her discovery but sent Tyler a bright smile when she caught him looking at her from the corner of his eyes.
Tyler ducked his head when he got caught, scratching the back of his head before going back to talking to Matt, ignoring her as though he hadn't spent a hundred bucks on a fucking Secret Santa gift.
Rich kids were fucking weird.
Tyler acted like a douchebag most days, but sometimes, he did something sweet like this that reminded her why she had become friends with him in the first place.
When their group was done unwrapping their presents, the girls and boys split up to look around the festival.
Stefan had looked like he wanted to stay with his girlfriend but was lured away by the promise of a short game of football.
The girls found a booth stocked with warm snacks and drinks and each of them bought an armful of snacks before crowding around the wood platform where Santa and his elves had begun to listen to requests from young kids.
"Stop judging me," Nova all but whined after she bit into three chocolate chip cookies like a sandwich. She pouted as the girls couldn't help but laugh at her cheeks that were puffed up like a chipmunk.
Their laughter quieted as Sheriff Forbes walked onto the platform, being handed a mic before she began her annual speech about the holidays and the importance of community.
Nova drank some hot chocolate to wash down the cookies but was distracted from listening to the Sheriff's speech by a familiar head weaving through the crowd of people.
She knew that head well, it had been in between her thighs not too long ago.
"Asshole," she whispered, aggressively biting into her cookie sandwich as she glared, clapping automatically along with everyone else when they turned on all of the Christmas lights.
Damon turned around when he heard the sound of her voice, and well, turns out she wasn't the only one who had the sudden urge to wear sunglasses at night.
She was trying to figure out why he would need them, but rational thought escaped her when he had the nerve to give her a fucking finger wave.
Nova bared her teeth at him in a mockery of a smile, opening her palm like she was going to wave back, before turning her hand around to give him the middle finger.
Damon merely gave her a smug smirk in reply, as though he had won some game they were playing - he hadn't won though, not just yet -, before disappearing into the crowd as though he had never been there at all.
"Is everything okay?" Bonnie questioned.
The three girls had been too distracted by Sheriff Forbes's heartwarming speech to see the short interaction, but her sister had caught the frown on her face before she could hide it.
Elena and Caroline turned towards them when they heard Bonnie's words, looking at her and clearly waiting on her response.
"I've got a toothache," she replied, not exactly lying as her tooth was starting to fucking hurt from all the sweets she had consumed.
By her frown, Bonnie was far from satisfied by the answer, but let her go for now - 'Tis the seasoning salt, she supposed.
"Hmm, I wonder why," her twin replied, a look of fake confusion on her face.
"Maybe it was the third pretzel," Elena piped in, hiding her grin behind her to-go cup filled with hot chocolate.
"Or the three cookies dipped in hot chocolate," Caroline added, her eyes bright with mischief as she joined in on picking on her sweet tooth.
"You bitches are so judgy," Nova told them with a pout on her face, but it didn't help her case when she finished off her makeshift cookie sandwich by stuffing the rest of it into her mouth.
Bonnie wrapped her arm around her twin's shoulders, laughing along with their friends, "You know you love us," her sister said, squishing their cheeks together.
"Sadly, yes, I love you guys very much," she replied with a long-suffering sigh, receiving several aw's from all of them that made her roll her eyes, albeit with a grin.
"Just warning you, Lena, but Stefan is officially the worst gift giver ever. I still can't believe that he couldn't afford to get me anything better than this," Caroline said, pulling out the snow globe keychain from her coat pocket.
Nova couldn't help but snort at the sight of it again because while she would expect it from the other teenagers... Caroline was right, Stefan was a Vampire for fuck's sake, he should be able to afford better.
"He got you a snowglobe, of Mystic Falls?" Elena asked, barely holding in her laughter as she held the small thing between her fingertips.
"Yeah, like I don't see this town enough every day as is," Caroline scoffed, a frown on her lips as she stuffed her gift back into her coat pocket. "Having the boys join in on secret Santa was a mistake."
Nova didn't think so, but that was because she was pretty fucking happy about her own gift, which she had her dad put in the car because no way in hell was she going to lug that big thing around all night.
"Well, I love my bracelet," Bonnie said, taking another look at the bracelet that fits perfectly on her wrist before giving the blonde a smile.
"Of course you do, because I am good at secret Santa and I didn't purchase it from a freaking quick stop," Caroline replied, letting out an angry huff.
"Looks like someone is missing the true meaning of Christmas," Elena said, giving the blonde a meaningful look.
"Pretending to smile while family members keep asking if you found a boyfriend so they can pretend you're straight? Or getting an anxiety attack from all the money you spend on food and gifts?" Nova questioned rapid-fire, grinning when she received a glare for her interruption.
"No," Elena said, firmly. "I know that our lives are insane now, but we're alive and happy. And together."
They all smiled at the girl's words, their arms wrapping around each other until they formed a group hug.
"... But we can all agree that Stefan's a terrible secret Santa, right?" Caroline couldn't help but ask.
"Yup."
"Yes."
"Oh, yeah," even Elena agreed, nodding vehemently, making them all break out into giggles as they started walking around again, their arms linked.
Speaking of immortal Vampires with shit gift-giving skills, she should probably go find Stefan before he threw out his admittedly suspicious-looking gift.
Nova reassured her friends that she would find them later before leaving them at the reindeer ring toss to find the youngest Salvatore.
She found him still in the middle of playing a 'short game' with Tyler and Matt, their game had drawn a small crowd as they showed off for them.
Nova watched the football fly out of Matt's grasp, it was a blur of brown as it soared through the air, heading towards Stefan, who was quick to catch it before it flew past him.
She clapped politely along with everyone else before deciding to just quietly call his name until he noticed her, otherwise, she was going to be here forever. She nearly face-palmed when the Vampire seemingly out of the blue turned towards her.
So much for being subtle, she thought, ignoring the many people now looking at her - her dad included -, she waved him over impatiently.
Stefan said something to Matt and Tyler, giving the latter the football back, and then they all shared a quick bro hug - you know the one - before he walked over towards her.
"Hey, what's up? Is everything okay? Where's Elena?" He asked with a frown on his face, competent enough at hiding his Vampiric status to fake some heavy breathing.
She wanted to be offended by his questions, but, they were fair because unless someone - usually Elena - was in trouble they hardly ever interacted.
"Relax, superman, everyone's okay, and Elena is currently eating her weight in popcorn and watching Caroline try to win Bonnie a teddy bear at the ring toss," Nova reassured him, watching as his shoulder's literally slumped in relief.
She caught a glimpse of the slim gift box poking out of his coat pocket, and ignoring his questioning glance, she reached over and pulled the dark blue box out of his pocket.
He let her take it from his pocket watching her open it with a look of realization on his face, silently connecting the dots that she had been his gift giver.
The plain-looking braided leather bracelet she had picked out was unassuming to the oblivious eye, but the silver around the ends of it had runes engraved on the side.
Anyone who has ever felt Magic would be able to tell that the runes weren't being used as pretty decorations, but were legit.
Though he might know that the runes were real, Stefan probably didn't know what the fuck they would do to him if he wore it - which was probably why he wasn't wearing it now and why she had sought him out.
"These guys right here, are supposed to promote a calm state of mind," Nova quietly told him, pointing towards one rune in particular that kinda looked like a half-finished triangle.
Then she tapped on the rune that looked like a dagged I, the sound of her voice almost nonexistent over the loud sounds of teenagers and little kids yelling all around them.
"And these are for self-control. It probably won't completely stop you from turning all... Grr.. but it'll help you keep calm around us mortals, especially when we bleed."
At least it better fucking work, otherwise, she had spent hours on making the damn thing, from braiding the leather to engraving the silver and embedding the stupid runes with a shit load of Magic for no goddamn reason.
Stefan was quiet as she explained, doing that trademark Salvatore intense staring that made even her self-conscious, inwardly at least, outwardly she probably looked like a douche with her sunglasses still on.
"How'd you find out? Was it Damon?" Stefan asked, his jaw clenched, but didn't pull out of her grip when she casually grabbed his wrist and put the bracelet on him.
Wow, even his hands were pretty, she thought, half-jealous of how pretty the Salvatores were - like Jesus Christ.
Nova was confused by his question for a moment, but then she remembered that she actually hadn't said jackshit to him about her being a Seer. She had always assumed either Elena or Damon would have told him.
"Nah, I just know shit, it's my magic power," she explained half-heartedly. "But you can... chill out dude. I haven't said a word to Elena about your... many problems, even though I think it's something you should tell her before she finds out the hard way."
Stefan looked immensely relieved by her words, the constipated look he always got on his face when he was brooding about something disappearing from his stupidly pretty face.
Ugh.
"Anyway, Imma go get my face painted with snowflakes and then find someone hot enough to make out with inside of the igloo... Later, dude."
Nova had made it five steps away from him when he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, her sunglasses slid down her nose as she tilted her head to look up at him with a raised brow.
"I know you didn't do this just for me, but.. thank you," Stefan said, injecting so much emotion in those last two words.
Nova hadn't really thought about what his reaction to the gift would be and was low key blushing at the sincerely thankful look on his face.
She had been planning on giving him something to control his hunger issues with before she had even met him. And so when she stumbled across the runes in her great grandmother's book she had immediately known what to do with it.
The school's annual Secret Santa was just the perfect excuse to give it to him, but he looked seconds away from crying - or hugging her.
And, yeah, with those arms? She'd be down for a hug any day, but sadly he just gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze before letting her go.
"You're welcome, sweet cheeks," she said to lighten the mood before skipping away before he made it even more emotional than she wanted the moment to be -
Huh, look at that maybe her and Tyler had more in common than she thought, they both could be shit with dealing with emotions.
Vampires, she cursed them in her head even as a happy little grin appeared on her face.
leave a review, tell me your favorite line, or your favorite scene! i'm also fine with incoherent screaming or a keyboard smash if you can't think of anything to say.