AN: Another request by Siberia21
It's odd, unpacking without Elijah. The first thing she does is set up her laptop and wifi, she's already set up internet and started paying for it here a few weeks ago. She video calls him as soon as possible, and he answers.
"Hey." She sounds tired, it goes so much slower without him.
"How are you?" He asks.
"Tired." She answers honestly, and turns around to continue unpacking. He sees her moving in and out of the camera's view for the next few hours as they talk. She's done by then, and she gives him a tour of the little apartment she's going to live in. She sits on her bed, and he promises to visit her after her first day of classes. She groans, that's two days away and she could use some Original level calm in her life. He smirks, and he can't resist teasing her.
"You miss me already?"
"Shut up. You know I do. I bet you miss me too." She says, and she's right. It just takes her a few minutes to prove she's right. He would have admitted it, but it's always fun to joke with her, so he does.
"What if someone breaks in?" She asks. He rolls his eyes.
"You're a vampire. You have the advantage." He reminds her.
"But what about vampire hunters?" She asks.
"You'll hear them first. You're a light sleeper." He assures her, although anxiety is creeping into his mind. Just a little. He suggests she get a roommate. She agrees, she's not picky at all, someone else would help her feel less alone. There is an empty bedroom she was planning to have as a guest room anyway. She might as well. She tells him that she'll put up an ad in the morning. She disappears out of his sight for a few moments, and returns. They talk until she falls asleep, and he leaves the call open as he does the same, at his desk. It's the most he's been at ease since she's left.
She wakes up to Elijah's face against a book, not for the first time. It's just the first time they've been separated by so many miles. It's the first time she hasn't been able to carefully save the book and put a pillow under his face. He always let her was the weird part to her. He'd open an eye to confirm it was her, and close it, and let her do whatever she was doing. She had seen him break bones for others touching him. She has power, power others don't have, and could never attain. The thought is odd.
"Elijah." She says, quietly. He'll wake up.
"Elijah." She draws it out, like does with her name. She tastes every syllable of his name as she spends exactly two minutes and forty three seconds trying to wake him.
"Hmmm?" He groans.
"I have to go out and do things. You need to finish your paper on Roman kings for that professor you turned." She reminds him, and he lifts his head.
"Thank you for the reminder. I don't want to lecture in a few hours." He complains, he's like this before he puts on a suit, he's more open.
She laughs, quietly.
"Good luck." She says and he nods before returning his head to the book.
She ends the video call.
She gets a roommate while at the grocery store, a college student who's in a few of her future classes. Elena takes her home to show her the apartment, texting Elijah as she does.
Elena tells her that rent would be splitting the utilities and groceries. That's it. The roommate looks like she's her age but she isn't as old as Elena, and it takes Elena a moment to remember. She squeals, and hugs Elena, relieved. She thanks her, and Elena offers to help her move in. Her new roommate, her name is Cass-doesn't have much to move. Her previous apartment turned out to be a nightmare. The roommate had forgotten to mention she had cats. Cass was super allergic. Elena assures her she doesn't have any pets, nor does she ever plan to have any. Their apartment complex doesn't allow pets anyway. She tells her that she'll deal with the paperwork if Cass gets dinner. Elena gives her a twenty, and the spare key in the apartment. She wants blood out of the fridge in her room, moved to her closet with Cass around but she walks to the management building anyway, Cass in front of her.
She fills out the paperwork in record time, knowing that Cass will need to invite her in now. So she waits at their front door. She doesn't like lying, but she'll need to compel Cass for this to work. It's a stupid move to try and tiptoe around it.
Cass arrives a few minutes later, pizza in her arms.
"I didn't know what you wanted, so I just got cheese." She says, and Elena smiles at her. She stares into her eyes.
"I need you to do me a favor. Give me the pizza, unlock the door and invite me in." She says and Cass nods. She does as Elena instructed, and she feels bad for a moment, but she had to.
They eat pizza and Elena compels her to not see when Elena's drinking blood, not to invite strangers in, and to not speak of any of the compulsion Elena has on her. When this is over, and they move on, Elena promises to herself that she'll erase the memories of that, and give her a normal life. Until then, she lived with a vampire roommate and the things that came with it. She videocalls Elijah again, and they talk until she falls asleep first. He's already reminded her that he'll be there, in the afternoon and she has classes tomorrow. He leaves the call on, and sets an alarm. It'll remind him to wake her up. Or, hopefully just wake her up. He's not picky.
A beeping noise wakes her up, and she groans at Elijah to turn it off. She almost is confused by her surroundings, but remembers as she opens her eyes. She is right about the source of noise, however, and he's already dressed and reminding her that he'll be there in the afternoon, and her first class is in an hour. She swears and tells him she'll see him then.
She wakes up Cass, and when she's sure the human is up, she gets blood, she's hungry. She takes a quick shower and gets her things, Cass is ready when she reaches the door. She offers to drive them both to campus, no point in wasting gas. Cass accepts, still a little apprehensive. She's too trusting, it bothers Elena a little. She used to be like that.
Classes pass, some slowly and others way too quickly-she's looking forward to the end of the day, she's first out of the last class of the day-she's the first one out of the door, eager to get home. Elijah's probably waiting, but something catches her eye. A suit. It's Elijah, standing there with that smug look on his face. She hugs him tightly, and people filter out, including Cass.
"Elena?" She asks hesitantly. She breaks the hug to look at her roommate.
"Cass! Hey, this is my friend, Elijah." Cass looks at her, and then at Elijah, and squints for a moment.
"Can you excuse us for a moment?" She asks Elijah. He agrees, knowing that no matter how far the human tries to take Elena away, he'll hear their conversation.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Cass asks bluntly and Elena assures her he isn't. The human then asks if he's available because he's hot and if he lives close by. Elena says he's unavailable, and he lives a state away.
"Oh." Cass sounds disappointed.
"How long have you known him?"
"Since my junior year of high school." Elena says truthfully. Cas stares at her for a moment.
"Is that relationship he's in serious? Because he looks at you like you're a piece of art and he's an art historian." Like you're something that beautiful, Cass wants to add, but refrains. Elena is that pretty, she'll admit.
"We're just friends, Cass." Elena assures her again, and they come back into view. He wonders if he's that obvious about his affections for Elena.
Cass invites Elijah in, with no compulsion needed. Elijah follows her to her room, and sits on her sofa as she goes to the closet to give him a blood bag. They talk for hours, and he helps her with some of her more boring homework. No classes the next day, and she doesn't want to be clingy, but he tells her that he had planned to stay until Sunday night. He has a hotel room, he tells her as he yawns. She tells him it's fine for him to crash on her couch, and she's out.
Their schedule is like this. He comes when he can, and they video call almost every day, but the times of day that he used to fill are so vacant, and they're a month away from graduating before Cas finally snaps. Sweet, trusting human Cass yells that she needs to tell Elijah how she feels because it's obvious she's in love with him and life is too short to be in that deep of denial.
Oh Cass, Elena wants to say. He's centuries old. I'm decades older than you. I can stay in denial for a very long time. She doesn't. She tells Cass that he hasn't been in a relationship in a long time, neither has she. The human tells her that's a part of being in love. You figure it out together. She tells Elena she can stay in denial, but she wants her roommate to be happy.
Elijah's coming the next day. She promises the human she'll give it serious thought. And she does, he can't call her. Usually it's the sign of a likely bad day, but it's nice. Elijah sees through her like she's transparent most days.
He's sprawled out on her couch when she gets home the next day.
"Elijah." Her voice is soft, and fragile and hesitant.
"Are you alright?" He looks her over, to see, and she bites her lip.
"I have something to tell you." She admits and he fears the worst.
Deep breath, Elena. She tells herself.
"I'm-I'm in love with you." She confesses, it spills out like blood, it's just as messy, she thinks. And then his eyes are softer than she's ever seen.
"Truly?" He asks. His voice is softer than his eyes.
"Yes." She confirms and he has her against the wall, his body pressing into hers. He gives the perfect first kiss, and they kiss for a few minutes, and when his lips move to her neck, she awkwardly searches for her doorknob for a few seconds before she locks her door.
It's not the first time he's woken up next to her, but it is the first time he's woken up next to her with his suit scattered around her room.
He could get used to it, he thinks.