Three Steps Closer for bambiscott
Title: Three Steps Closer
Author: bellonablack
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Gift for: bambiscott
Characters/Pairing: Caroline/Tyler
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:1630
Beta: stainofmylove
Author's note: Thanks for all the help on this fic by my beta. Any mistakes you find are my own last minute additions.
Caroline felt out of place.
She dug her toes into the sand and watched everyone basically frolic in the water and lay on burning sand. It was weird a psychological tick. The beach looked like the desert. She was going to go up in flames. She was used to Mystic Falls with its oh--trees and shade and neatly lined up buildings. This was blistering sun and a long stretch to get to any safe port.
And she was sweating. She curled her hand with her ring in it, tightly and looked down at Tyler who was stretched out on a towel beside her. This was her other reason for feeling out of place. Tyler was just in swim trunks. She hadn't anticipated that Tyler stretched out on his stomach, with the curves and muscles in his back so apparent, would stress her out.
She looked at the back of his neck, looked at his eyelashes, the angles of his face, and was reminded how they hadn't defined their relationship. She had thought up the vacation to prove the strength of this relationship in any environment.
But she didn't want to damage their relationship either. She didn't want to lose what she had. So, here she was, on the beach: torn between wanting to crawl on top of Tyler to get as close as possible, feeding (because she was getting hungry), and fleeing from the sun.
She had tried to distract both of him with a schedule: water park, go-carters, paintball, you name it: it was on the list.
She was also sweating, as she said. Still could do that. She was happy at least with her red bathing suit. She also had a pretty blue one. Yes, think on this. She looked back at Tyler, wanting to do something less controversial like...
Ask him to apply sunscreen. Would she feel warm enough after sunning this long?
She grabbed for the bottle and started to oil her arms. Oh for...
She wouldn't need sunscreen. Tyler would see right through this. She looked at the bottle and felt a lump grow in her throat.
"Really?"she asked, maybe with too much hope in her voice. She still had the bottle in her hands. Tyler looked over at her.
"Do you want to walk the beach?" Tyler asked.
She wanted to see his whole face then: yet the sun was in her eyes, and she had to squint. The wind was blowing her hair in her face, and before she moved to brush the strands out of the way, he did it for her. Her heart sped up, her breath quickened...
And her hunger deepened.
It shouldn't have. She had drank the blood she had brought along two hours beforehand. She looked away, and she felt his fingers touch her palm before enclosing her hand in his.
She felt dizzy.
Being out of control before in her life was just an act. Her first step to make sure they had a foundation (because she wanted him to be in her life) that didn’t revolve around supernatural. She followed his gaze to where he was staring into the distance intensely. There were a group of people their age playing volleyball.
"Tyler. Do you want to play?" Caroline blurted out, motioning with her head.
His eyes widened. “I used to when I took Matt with me to the beach. Do you play?”
Once or twice. Preferred cheerleading. She prepared a lie.
“Once or twice,”she answered honestly instead. Boring, Caroline. Real boring.
“Want to make it three times?”he asked, in this teasing way. She kind of did. But she was also--
“Yeah,”she said, smiling. They walked over to the group.
“That side looks like it needs more people,”Tyler said. Some of the kids (she thought of them as kids now) looked hesitant, but the biggest guy nodded.
“As it is, it’s barely a game.”
Caroline frowned at the attitude: Tyler, however, grinned. She knew that grin. It was this weird Alpha male grin he had from time to time.
“We’re in.”
She was in for five seconds. Even though she made a clean hit over the net, she held back due to her strength.
"That was such a weak hit," the larger guy complained.
"You're holding back," Tyler whispered from besides her, his eyes focused on the net.
“Um, yeah,”Caroline said. “I can’t really move fast without turning into a blur. They might just notice that.”
“Have you really tried?”he whispered. “Kind of focus it. Pretend it’s like breaking into a trot for you and flat out sprinting to us.”
Caroline thought she should be allowed to play a game on the beach. Even if she wasn’t, she was still going to do it.
“Okay, I’m going to try,”she said, determined.
“Later, when they clear out, we’ll play ourselves.”
Caroline would prefer that: then one of the players on the other team stopped.
“You guys really aren’t good enough to play.”
“Yeah right,”Tyler said. “We’ve had some good volleys.”
“You’d have to pay me to keep playing. I’m tired of holding back.”
Tyler glared at the guy, and Caroline had an idea.
“We could play two on two," she suggested.
Tyler looked at her a moment, and Caroline read the question in his eyes. She would say no--she should say no. That this was a huge abuse of vampire powers.
She was very much up for it. She winked at him.
"Okay--you're better be ready," Tyler announced, grinning a feral grin. Caroline thought the ring had failed because she just melted into a puddle of goo--metaphorically. "So you pay in cash.”
"Deal," Tyler said, and he turned back to her, still smiling. "Caroline. I've got your back."
She could do this: she would just focus on a speed that was like walking for her and have fun with it.
Jason served.
She hit the ball and Jason hurried to meet the shot--before letting the ball go when it hit his hand.
“Sorry!”she called out. She’d ease up on the shots.
Jason pretended he was stretching. “My arm was stiff. Let’s go again.”
And so--the outcome was obvious. She had fun: Jason wasn’t a bad player. She was thrilled with how her body twisted to meet the ball, thrilled with the control she had rediscovered. She even drew the game out (a strategy that Caroline thought was probably fairly vampiric) but oh well?
Caroline watched the money exchange hands.
“Sure you guys don’t want another game?”Tyler asked.
They were all exhausted, limping away and shaking their heads.
“So, we should feel bad about that,”Caroline said.
They looked at each other.
“I don’t,”Tyler said, cracking a smile, a shadow of the old Tyler from before. “Not even a little.”
“Me either,”Caroline said.
“It was epic,”Tyler said. “You were like an Olympic athlete out there.”
Caroline laughed, feeling a bit like a weight was being lifted off her shoulders.
"I want to take you out tonight. Somewhere nice,”Tyler said.
She nodded, and he relaxed. Her plan was working. This vacation was going to be very normal after all.
***
Caroline was so hungry when they finally trekked up to the room.
She tied her hair up in a knot and went to the fridge. Tyler walked into the small kitchen with her. Caroline stopped and kind of motioned for him to go first--just teasing.
He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed a beer. He had to dodge all that blood. It was never good after sitting directly in the freezer. Tyler didn’t show any hesitation navigating the fridge. He didn’t make a face or anything. That was worse: he must be thinking on really not showing how he felt about the blood around his drink.
He started to grab some chips too.
“I’m going to make reservations, so,”he said and then trailed off when she made no move to open the fridge door. “What’s wrong?”
“Um. Nothing,”she said, quickly, and opened the fridge door. She’d have to microwave it now.
Tyler stepped closer, actually looking at the bag of blood.
“So, did he get that from the hospital? Is it clean blood?”
“We take either kind,”she said. Blood was dirty in general.
“Then, like, a disease wouldn’t affect vampires.”
“I’m about to eat, Tyler,”she said, a little too sharply. Why fixate on the vampire in her, why?
“Sorry,”he said, holding up his hands. “I was curious. I didn’t mean to cross a line.”
“No, no,”she said, cupping her face in thought. “It’s embarrassing. You know. To guzzle down blood in front of someone you...”
He looked at her.
“..you care about,” she finished. “Normally it’s not a big deal, but I didn’t think that I’d be shy about it until oh, right now.”
“I can understand that. But you can be yourself, too. If you want me to step out, I will, but I’m just saying it’s okay. I know you drink blood."
“I don’t want you to think this is me.” She held up the bag.
“It isn’t all you are. But it’s a small thing you do. I love Doritos, small thing, and I grow a lot of fur once a month,...not as small but small.”
Caroline couldn’t hold back a smile at that last part because she felt pure relief. She knew what they had went beyond the supernatural.
“I’ll need to heat this up. To 98.6 degrees,” she said. “We all like it better then.”
Five minutes later, she was on the balcony with him sipping her warm drink in the heat. He was discussing the places they would eat, and she was embarrassingly happy to just hear him talk. He put his hand on hers, and for the first time in a long time, she knew everything was going to be all right.
For the first time, it was like being home again.
Author: bellonablack
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Gift for: bambiscott
Characters/Pairing: Caroline/Tyler
Rating: PG-13
Word Count:1630
Beta: stainofmylove
Author's note: Thanks for all the help on this fic by my beta. Any mistakes you find are my own last minute additions.
Caroline felt out of place.
She dug her toes into the sand and watched everyone basically frolic in the water and lay on burning sand. It was weird a psychological tick. The beach looked like the desert. She was going to go up in flames. She was used to Mystic Falls with its oh--trees and shade and neatly lined up buildings. This was blistering sun and a long stretch to get to any safe port.
And she was sweating. She curled her hand with her ring in it, tightly and looked down at Tyler who was stretched out on a towel beside her. This was her other reason for feeling out of place. Tyler was just in swim trunks. She hadn't anticipated that Tyler stretched out on his stomach, with the curves and muscles in his back so apparent, would stress her out.
She looked at the back of his neck, looked at his eyelashes, the angles of his face, and was reminded how they hadn't defined their relationship. She had thought up the vacation to prove the strength of this relationship in any environment.
But she didn't want to damage their relationship either. She didn't want to lose what she had. So, here she was, on the beach: torn between wanting to crawl on top of Tyler to get as close as possible, feeding (because she was getting hungry), and fleeing from the sun.
She had tried to distract both of him with a schedule: water park, go-carters, paintball, you name it: it was on the list.
She was also sweating, as she said. Still could do that. She was happy at least with her red bathing suit. She also had a pretty blue one. Yes, think on this. She looked back at Tyler, wanting to do something less controversial like...
Ask him to apply sunscreen. Would she feel warm enough after sunning this long?
She grabbed for the bottle and started to oil her arms. Oh for...
She wouldn't need sunscreen. Tyler would see right through this. She looked at the bottle and felt a lump grow in her throat.
"Really?"she asked, maybe with too much hope in her voice. She still had the bottle in her hands. Tyler looked over at her.
"Do you want to walk the beach?" Tyler asked.
She wanted to see his whole face then: yet the sun was in her eyes, and she had to squint. The wind was blowing her hair in her face, and before she moved to brush the strands out of the way, he did it for her. Her heart sped up, her breath quickened...
And her hunger deepened.
It shouldn't have. She had drank the blood she had brought along two hours beforehand. She looked away, and she felt his fingers touch her palm before enclosing her hand in his.
She felt dizzy.
Being out of control before in her life was just an act. Her first step to make sure they had a foundation (because she wanted him to be in her life) that didn’t revolve around supernatural. She followed his gaze to where he was staring into the distance intensely. There were a group of people their age playing volleyball.
"Tyler. Do you want to play?" Caroline blurted out, motioning with her head.
His eyes widened. “I used to when I took Matt with me to the beach. Do you play?”
Once or twice. Preferred cheerleading. She prepared a lie.
“Once or twice,”she answered honestly instead. Boring, Caroline. Real boring.
“Want to make it three times?”he asked, in this teasing way. She kind of did. But she was also--
“Yeah,”she said, smiling. They walked over to the group.
“That side looks like it needs more people,”Tyler said. Some of the kids (she thought of them as kids now) looked hesitant, but the biggest guy nodded.
“As it is, it’s barely a game.”
Caroline frowned at the attitude: Tyler, however, grinned. She knew that grin. It was this weird Alpha male grin he had from time to time.
“We’re in.”
She was in for five seconds. Even though she made a clean hit over the net, she held back due to her strength.
"That was such a weak hit," the larger guy complained.
"You're holding back," Tyler whispered from besides her, his eyes focused on the net.
“Um, yeah,”Caroline said. “I can’t really move fast without turning into a blur. They might just notice that.”
“Have you really tried?”he whispered. “Kind of focus it. Pretend it’s like breaking into a trot for you and flat out sprinting to us.”
Caroline thought she should be allowed to play a game on the beach. Even if she wasn’t, she was still going to do it.
“Okay, I’m going to try,”she said, determined.
“Later, when they clear out, we’ll play ourselves.”
Caroline would prefer that: then one of the players on the other team stopped.
“You guys really aren’t good enough to play.”
“Yeah right,”Tyler said. “We’ve had some good volleys.”
“You’d have to pay me to keep playing. I’m tired of holding back.”
Tyler glared at the guy, and Caroline had an idea.
“We could play two on two," she suggested.
Tyler looked at her a moment, and Caroline read the question in his eyes. She would say no--she should say no. That this was a huge abuse of vampire powers.
She was very much up for it. She winked at him.
"Okay--you're better be ready," Tyler announced, grinning a feral grin. Caroline thought the ring had failed because she just melted into a puddle of goo--metaphorically. "So you pay in cash.”
"Deal," Tyler said, and he turned back to her, still smiling. "Caroline. I've got your back."
She could do this: she would just focus on a speed that was like walking for her and have fun with it.
Jason served.
She hit the ball and Jason hurried to meet the shot--before letting the ball go when it hit his hand.
“Sorry!”she called out. She’d ease up on the shots.
Jason pretended he was stretching. “My arm was stiff. Let’s go again.”
And so--the outcome was obvious. She had fun: Jason wasn’t a bad player. She was thrilled with how her body twisted to meet the ball, thrilled with the control she had rediscovered. She even drew the game out (a strategy that Caroline thought was probably fairly vampiric) but oh well?
Caroline watched the money exchange hands.
“Sure you guys don’t want another game?”Tyler asked.
They were all exhausted, limping away and shaking their heads.
“So, we should feel bad about that,”Caroline said.
They looked at each other.
“I don’t,”Tyler said, cracking a smile, a shadow of the old Tyler from before. “Not even a little.”
“Me either,”Caroline said.
“It was epic,”Tyler said. “You were like an Olympic athlete out there.”
Caroline laughed, feeling a bit like a weight was being lifted off her shoulders.
"I want to take you out tonight. Somewhere nice,”Tyler said.
She nodded, and he relaxed. Her plan was working. This vacation was going to be very normal after all.
***
Caroline was so hungry when they finally trekked up to the room.
She tied her hair up in a knot and went to the fridge. Tyler walked into the small kitchen with her. Caroline stopped and kind of motioned for him to go first--just teasing.
He rolled his eyes at her and grabbed a beer. He had to dodge all that blood. It was never good after sitting directly in the freezer. Tyler didn’t show any hesitation navigating the fridge. He didn’t make a face or anything. That was worse: he must be thinking on really not showing how he felt about the blood around his drink.
He started to grab some chips too.
“I’m going to make reservations, so,”he said and then trailed off when she made no move to open the fridge door. “What’s wrong?”
“Um. Nothing,”she said, quickly, and opened the fridge door. She’d have to microwave it now.
Tyler stepped closer, actually looking at the bag of blood.
“So, did he get that from the hospital? Is it clean blood?”
“We take either kind,”she said. Blood was dirty in general.
“Then, like, a disease wouldn’t affect vampires.”
“I’m about to eat, Tyler,”she said, a little too sharply. Why fixate on the vampire in her, why?
“Sorry,”he said, holding up his hands. “I was curious. I didn’t mean to cross a line.”
“No, no,”she said, cupping her face in thought. “It’s embarrassing. You know. To guzzle down blood in front of someone you...”
He looked at her.
“..you care about,” she finished. “Normally it’s not a big deal, but I didn’t think that I’d be shy about it until oh, right now.”
“I can understand that. But you can be yourself, too. If you want me to step out, I will, but I’m just saying it’s okay. I know you drink blood."
“I don’t want you to think this is me.” She held up the bag.
“It isn’t all you are. But it’s a small thing you do. I love Doritos, small thing, and I grow a lot of fur once a month,...not as small but small.”
Caroline couldn’t hold back a smile at that last part because she felt pure relief. She knew what they had went beyond the supernatural.
“I’ll need to heat this up. To 98.6 degrees,” she said. “We all like it better then.”
Five minutes later, she was on the balcony with him sipping her warm drink in the heat. He was discussing the places they would eat, and she was embarrassingly happy to just hear him talk. He put his hand on hers, and for the first time in a long time, she knew everything was going to be all right.
For the first time, it was like being home again.