Fandom: The Vampire Dairies
Pairing: Stefan/Caroline
Rated: K
Summary: Fluff. Fluffity-fluff fluff with a teensy sprinkling of angst. Or Caroline's favourite movie is Matilda.
Notes: After the finale where I imagine everything turns out fine (it won't) Bonnie, is NOT dead, only a little pissed that Stefan and Caroline hook up. I'm tired so forgive typos.

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Stefan feels his lips twist upwards at the sight in front of him. Whatever question he was about to ask Caroline fades on his lips as he watches her dance around her bedroom to some outrageously upbeat song that is turned up to an obnoxious volume. He drops his body weight against the doorframe and crosses his arms across his chest and continues watching amusedly. Caroline's prancing, there really is no other word for it, around her room, nodding her head in time to the music and letting broken bits of lyrics escape her mouth. To top it all off, she's dancing in nothing but her underwear, pulling clothes from her closet, regarding them for a split second, to then dance along to the next shirt, dress, skirt, whatever. Her smile is radiant and the sunlight filtering through her window drapes is hitting her blonde curls enough to make them glow. As Stefan lets the smile threatening take over, he doesn't think he's ever seen a more adorable sight. Adorable things is something you get a lot with Caroline, though, and it's something he's enjoying getting used to.

The chorus swells into the room and she lets herself loose, belting out the lyrics, and Stefan had forgotten how beautiful her voice was. He's been there in the door way grinning for about four seconds maybe, but he's surprised Caroline hasn't noticed him yet. It must be the volume she's got cranked up and the complete world of her own she's obviously absorbed in. He has to admit he loves seeing her so carefree and happy. It reminds him that just because he's a monster doesn't mean these emotions are lost to him. Caroline brings them out in him best.

A second later when he sees she's about to strip off her bra to change he coughs hurriedly and ducks his gaze down. They haven't quite reached that stripping off needlessly level yet, both realising that to rush into something without a backwards glance to anything would be little more than relationship suicide. They've both had enough pain to last several lifetimes, even infinite ones. They're taking it slow and steady. That was the phrase wasn't it? Caroline had suggested it, still broken from Tyler, still doubtful that Elena wasn't waiting in the sidelines to sink a hook in his chest and reel him back in. He was enjoying just being with her at the moment, he made him happy, bought the sunshine outside into his mind.

There's the briefest of beats after his cough and then he finds himself pinned to the doorframe awkwardly. Caroline's fangs out and the veins around her eyes pulsing. "Woah, Caroline!"

"Stefan?" She blinks and the fangs disappear and her arm drops. Stefan straightens up and raises a eyebrow at her.

"Still a bit jumpy?"

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Just a bit." Then she cringes. "I'm so sorry about that."

He shrugs. "No, I sneaked up on you. I should've known better than to take Caroline Forbes by surprise, huh?"

She giggles and walks over to her dresser to switch her iPod off and slips on a shirt and some panama shorts. Stefan's eyes follow her, as she covers up her underwear. "Nice music choice, by the way. What was it?"

Caroline' snaps her head around to stare at him incredulously. "Seriously? You've never heard that song before?"

He shakes his head, highly entertained by the look of pure disbelief she's shooting him. "I'm sensing this is something I should change immediately, though. It's okay, you can put it back on, Tell me about it, maybe start dancing again?"

This time Caroline tuns fully around and Stefan can see the slightest blush on her pale cheeks. "You saw that?" she groans, covering her face with her hands.

Stefan laughs and crosses the room to pull her hands away gently, dropping a kiss to her hair. "I thought it was cute."

"I bet I looked like a huge dork." she whimpers, her face crumpling with embarrassment. Stefan chuckles and attempts to smooth out the frown lines in her forehead before sliding his hands down and pulling Caroline into a kiss. Sweet and slow. Caroline sighs happily and snakes a hand up to the nape of his neck and pulls gently on his hair there. It makes him smile and really since neither of them actually need to breathe, he considers just staying there with her until someone inevitably interrupts them. As it is, Caroline breaks away first and grins up at him.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Mr Salvatore?"

Now he finds himself blushing slightly and he shrugs vaguely. "I felt like it. And this is an urge I can actually give in to, right?"

Caroline makes a face at him and rubs his forearm soothingly. "I'm gonna take that as a warped compliment, and you're gonna stop brooding okay? It's not Tuesday."

Stefan has to laugh a their little inside joke. "Right, I think it's actually Saturday. So no time for brooding." Caroline smiles warmly at him. Everything about her is warm and inviting.

As he looks at her the question he'd completely forgotten before floats back to the forefront of his mind.

"That reminds me, what time are we meant to be at the Grill with Bonnie?"

Caroline hits him on the chest half-heartedly. "Eight! I told you that like a half hour ago!"

"Right, sorry." He quirks a teasing eyebrow. "Have you chosen what to wear yet then?"

She sighs dramatically. "No, I've run out clothes!"

He's familiar by now with Caroline's closet full of clothes-nothing to wear problem and nods like he understands. He doesn't really, but he's not about to pick at her. Caroline always takes great care over her appearance, he knows. He thinks she always looks beautiful, but she'll insist that she could always look just that little bit better. He always disagrees, but mostly he just drops the subject.

Caroline collapses on the end of her bed, lets her head hit the pillow and shuts her eyes. "To be honest, I don't really feel like going," she announces to the ceiling.

"I thought you wanted to talk to Bonnie?"

She sighs and again and pulls a pillow to her chest and hugs it tightly. "I did. I mean, I do, but she's a bit involved with trying to get over Jeremy at the moment. I think I might just be annoying her. She needs to talk to Elena."

Stefan takes a deep breath and settles himself next to her on the bed quietly. When he speaks her eyes shoot open and she smiles.

"Well, why don't you phone her? There's no point enduring a evening none of you are enjoying. Maybe it's just a little too soon?"

She reaches over to trace her finger over Stefan's cheekbones and then lets her arm drop to the mattress with a flump. "Yeah, maybe. I'll ring her."

"It will get better with Bonnie, I promise." He anchors an arm around her waist and pulls her closer until she's pressed against his chest and close enough for him to smell her shampoo. She smiles sadly at him.

"And Elena?"

He doesn't want to lie to her, so just kisses her shoulder and brushes a blonde curl out of her eyes. "I don't know."

"That's what I figured." She wriggles out of his arms. "I'm going to phone Bon."

Stefan nods and watches her walk out the room. A second later and he can hear her on the phone, fractured bits of conversation. and her apologies. He tunes it out, though. It's a private conversation, and besides he doesn't want to hear the slight disapproving tone in Bonnie's voice today. He gets that she thinks Caroline and him shouldn't be together, that dating his ex's best friend is just weird but Elena wasn't the person she used to be and nether was he, and Caroline was the sweetheart she's always been and he saw nothing wrong in that.

He's just about to roll off the bed and go and give some moral support when he realises if he's getting moody over it, Caroline must be upset too, when she appears back in the room.

"Hey, soldier."

A nickname. He doesn't know where it came from but Caroline loves it and it slips into their conversations easily. Maybe it's because, despite everything, they've found a way to battle though- with each other.

He conjures up a smile. "You okay, Caroline?" He does't really do nicknames himself, partly because he's over a hundred years old, and partly because he likes her name, and the fullness and weight of it on his tongue. He likes being able to address her like everyone else, but knowing that she'd rather hear his voice saying her name than anyone else at all.

She shrugs and curls up next to him. "Well, we're not going."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She notices Stefan looking at her and rolls her eyes. "Really."

"So how about that song? You looked happy dancing to that."

Caroline's face brightens at the change of subject and she giggles. "It was Thurston Harris, Little Bitty Pretty One. It's one of my favourites." When Stefan's face still shows no signs of recognition she sighs. "From the film Matilda?"

"Sorry, I'm not exactly a film buff. Movies kinda blur into each other after a hundred years of living"

Caroline rolls her eyes, smiling slightly. "It's one of my favourite films too. I can just put it on, or listen to that song, and it cheers me up."

"That's a good thing," Stefan comments and she nods.

"Yeah, I used to watch it all the time when i was, like, nine. I'd kinda forgotten about it till recently."

"So it's a kids movie?"

She pushes him lightly in the chest at the teasing tone to his voice.

"Yeah, it is. What's wrong with that?"

Stefan shakes his head quickly. "Nothing, nothing. What's it about?"

"A kid who likes books with magical powers."

"Sounds intriguing."

"It's cute." She looks up at him through her eyelashes and Stefan stops himself from rolling on top of her and kissing her, just because of how adorable she looks. 'i have it in the dvd player now, if you wanna watch it?"

Stefan realises she's not really asking him about the movie. They're going to end up watching it whether he likes it or not, even if he did put a fight. What's she's really asking is permission to forget about everyone else for a while, disappointing Bonnie, 'betraying' Elena. And he's not about to deny her that.

"Sure, go ahead."

She aims the remote from her bedside table at the tv and it flashes on and the credits start to roll. He opens his arms for her and she crawls closer, rests her head on his chest. He doesn't know if she can even see the screen properly from that position, but he guesses that isn't the point. Just the idea of losing yourself in a movie for a bit is comforting in itself.

He pulls her closer and she raises her head to kiss the underside of his jaw softly. "Thanks, Stefan."

"No problem, Caroline."

She lays her head back down, and if he had a beating heart, it would be fluttering hard right now. Instead he's left with the closed up feeling in his throat and a wash of affection for her. Caroline has enough strength to fight her own battles, but he's glad he can be around to help her when she's laying down her weapons too.

an: i'm a bit worried my babies are a bit out of character. how did i do? i'm so in love with this pairing, oh my.