It wasn’t supposed to end like this. If wasn’t supposed to end at all.

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“So, what do you think?” he asked, spreading his arms out as he stood on the other side of what appeared to be a barn house. 

“I think we just drove four hours and I’m still in the dark…” Leaning in the doorway, she cocked her head and waved her hands. “Am I finally going to know what we’re doing here? Because our game of Guess Stefan’s Surprise Trip didn’t exactly enlighten me to anything.”

He grinned, ducking his head slightly, and walked toward her. Hands in his pockets, he shrugged. Casting his eyes around the room, he said, “You seemed a little down lately, so I wanted to take you out, just us, and simply have fun, for once…”

Her smile softened. “You know, usually our ideas of fun are very, very different…” She pushed off the wall to walk toward him, “I mean, I like shopping and you like, well, journaling or brooding.”

Eyes narrowed thoughtfully, he mused, “I’m not sure I like brooding so much as it’s my natural state…”

She chuckled to herself and reached for him, her hands smoothing over his sides and meeting at his back, fingers braided together. “So what you’re saying is… You’ve broken out of your grumpy shell to cheer me up. Is that what I’m getting here?”

He smiled down at her. “That’s the gist, yes.”

“And your choice of venue is a barn four hours of town, because…?”

He waved a hand around at the streamers and lights. “They have a dance here once a year, to celebrate the harvest and bring in tourism. I know country’s not usually your thing, but I wouldn’t put it past you to win Miss Pumpkin Patch just on your smile alone.”

Her head fell back as she grinned at his praise. “Should I be disappointed you left your coveralls at home, Mister to my Miss Pumpkin Patch?”

He chuckled and rubbed his hands up her arms. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to ignore authenticity just this once.”

Her brows hiked argumentatively. “Oooh, no. If we drove four hours to go to a dance and there’s a pageant later, then we are spending however long it takes finding me the perfect country dress.” She released him and turned on her heel to leave. “Come on, I think I saw a boutique on our way in.” She gave a little squeal of excitement. “This is going to be so much fun!” 

Stefan followed after her, both amused and genuinely happy that he’d cheered her up.

Caroline paused at the threshold of the door and turned back to him. Walking the few steps between them, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a slow, slanting kiss. Stefan was quick to wrap his arms around her, one hand burying in her hair. Caroline pecked his lips twice more before leaning back and murmuring, “Thank you.”

Half-smiling, he nodded. He still had at least an hour of shopping ahead of him, but he figured it was worth it.

Caroline didn’t win Miss Pumpkin Patch, but she did win a sash for prettiest smile. Stefan couldn’t agree more.

“You’re still going to question this?” he asked, staring down at her, his arms crossed tight over his chest.

“Seriously? Yes. Stefan, you can’t just declare feelings all… willy-nilly like that.”

He tipped his head back and rolled his eyes. “Caroline, this has been building up for years.”

“Well, who’s to say it’s not supposed to keep building?”

“What are you afraid of? Huh?” He stepped toward her, his head cocked. “You’re the most romantic person I’ve ever met. Since when do you second guess how you feel?”

“I’m not doubting how I feel! I’m doubting how you feel.” She waved a hand at him. “Which, trust me, is very different.”

He frowned down at her knowingly. “Is this about Elena? Again?”

She sighed, her shoulders slumping a little. Brows arching, she murmured, “Isn’t it always?” Her gaze fell, avoiding his, and disappointment flooded her.

“No. No, this time there is no Elena. She’s not a part of this. This is me and you.”

“Stefan—”

“Just listen to me,” he asked.

Hesitantly, she let herself look up at him. In any other moment, she would’ve been distracted. Here they were in his bedroom, with her sitting on the edge of his bed, and he was showing off his ridiculously nice arms. It had never escaped her attention how handsome he was and being in this setting, knowing what she really wanted, made that all the more clear. But this wasn’t the time for sex, this was about definition. He was right, they had been dancing around this for a long time, and her feet were tired.

“Whatever feelings I had for anyone else, those are over with. They’re done. What I feel for you right now…? That’s all that matters to me. You are what matters to me.”

She chewed her lip and peered up at him, serious but not broody. “I just don’t want to make a decision that’s going to change us… You’re my best friend, first and foremost. And I don’t want to wake up tomorrow or next week or next year and realize that we screwed that up.”

“I can’t promise you that everything’s going to go smoothly… We both know that our lives are anything but easy. But I don’t want to keep pretending that friendship is the only thing between us…” He stared searchingly at her, hope clear in his eyes. “So I’m asking you to give us, give me, a chance…”

She swallowed tightly and raised her chin determinedly, letting out a heavy sigh. “Okay, but—!” She held up a finger. “No funny businesses. We take it slow, we see where it goes, and we always, always promise that we don’t let anything affect our friendship.”

As he started smiling, she wagged her finger, her eyes wide. “I mean it!”

He chuckled under his breath, but nodded. “Okay, no funny business… yet.”

Barely suppressing her own smile, she cast her eyes away and wondered, “So… now what?”

“Now…” He held a hand out for her to take. “I think we kick this off the right way…” As her fingers tangled with his, he pulled her up, his arm winding around her waist and drawing her close, until they were chest to chest. His gaze met hers softly as he murmured, “The first of many, many dances…”

Maybe her feet weren’t so tired after all. 

Title: You clung to self-restraint, you followed the plan (You put the brakes on this)
Category: Arrow
Genre: Angst/Romance
Ship: Felicity/Oliver
Rating: Teen/PG-13
Dedicated to: dhfreak (Mel)
Word Count: 8,000
Summary: “What about for falling in love with you?” he finally wondered. “Can you forgive me for that?”

Preview:

[Diggle] blinked at her. “You wrote a resignation letter to the Hood…?”

[Felicity] shrugged and readjusted her glasses. “It seemed like the professional thing to do at the time.”

“I’m sure he’ll put it right in with the other non-existent files we keep…” he mused, crossing his arms over his chest and cocking his head to study her. “Is this about how weird you two’ve been around each other lately?”

“No, this is because he won’t let me have Chinese food delivered.” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, this is about the weirdness…”

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Title: You don’t need to wonder if love will make us stronger (There’s nothing love can’t do)
Category: Arrow
Genre: Angst/Romance
Ship: Oliver/Felicity
Rating: NC-17/Explicit
For: dhfreak (Mel)
Warning(s): Character Death (kind of…), Violence, Explicit Sex
Word Count: 8,591
Summary: “You can’t save them… You’re not a hero; you’re a killer. Death follows you like a shadow… And it will consume her.”

Preview:

[Oliver] laughed, his hands settling on her waist. “I think I’ve learned my lesson when it comes to issuing you ultimatums.”

“Ah…” [Felicity] nodded. “You mean how I don’t like being told what to do?”

“Yes, that. You’re one of the few people in Starling City who isn’t intimidated by me.”

“Hmm, well that might have something to do with seeing you with bedhead in the morning… Hard to think of you as scary when I’ve seen you looking like a sleepy teddy bear.”

He snorted, slightly incredulous at her description. “Teddy bear, really? I think the Hood would be offended.”

“Definitely offended,” she agreed, her eyes wide for emphasis. “I may have to make it up to him.”

Oliver nodded, his hands sliding lower on her hips, fingers spreading out as he squeezed. “He does seem to have a fragile ego…”

“Very true.”

He leaned down, his forehead touching hers. “He doesn’t give in easily. You may have to spend the whole night apologizing.”

Her hands slid up around his neck, brightly colored nails dragging through his hair. “It might even spill over into tomorrow… Good thing I don’t have work.”

“That… sounds like great timing.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “It’s almost like my boss’s handsome and charming step-son arranged to give me an extra day off.”

“Both the Hood and I appreciate his ingenuity then.”

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dhfreak:

TVD | Title: Won’t You Dance with Me, Lover of My Soul? (To the Song of all Songs) by sarcastic fina

Preview:

The couple beside them was talking, bickering Stefan thought, before the wife finally won.

In perfect Italian, the man wondered, “Sir? Pardon my prying… My wife is curious, you see… She enjoys a good love story.” He smiled, the wrinkles of his face folding even more as he did.

Stefan raised a curious eyebrow but nodded. “How may I help?”

“She wonders… Is that your wife? You are newlyweds, yes?”

Stefan looked back at Caroline, who was watching them as they spoke, though she couldn’t decipher what they were saying, as shown by the befuddled furrow of her brows.

He smiled back at the man and explained, “We are friends… Very good friends.”

The man’s wife did not seem to agree and let out a scoff, tossing her head back, her silver hair swaying, and muttered disagreements under her breath.

Her husband merely grinned at her before turning back to Stefan. “A funny truth… The strongest love always starts with friendship.” With that and a wink, the man swung his wife away, twirling her under his arm, smiling warmly as she giggled like a woman much younger than her years.

Stefan watched them go, mouth turned up at the corners with a smile.

“What was that?” Caroline wondered.

“Something to aspire to.”

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Title: I Can Feel Your Heartbeat (Running Through Me)
Category: Arrow
Genre: Romance/Drama
Ship: Felicity/Oliver
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 3,976
Summary: Seven months they’ve been sleeping together, and tonight, whether Felicity wants him to or not, Oliver will define what ‘they’ are.

Preview:

“I can’t sleep when you’re staring at me.”

“I do it all the time, you should be used to it by now. I used to stare at you when you worked out, that never stopped you. If I’m not occupied with a computer, I’m usually staring at you… Now that I think about it, you may occupy too much of my time.” She paused. “Not that I want to spend less time with you. I’m not like, trying to end this, whatever this is, I’m just… I was just noticing that I spend a lot of time, you know…”

“Staring at me,” he finished, his lips twitching with amusement.

She laughed awkwardly under her breath and almost reached up to adjust her glasses, only to realize they were folded up on her bedside table. “Yeah.”

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Title: It May Be Over (But It Won’t Stop There)
Category: Vampire Diaries
Genre: Angst/Romance
Ship: Caroline/Stefan, mentioned Stefan/Elena
Rating: Mature
Prompt: Can we please have a sequel to your steroline-affair fic? Perhaps from Stefan’s perspective? - anon
Word Count: 3,967
Summary: It is wrong. But not for the reasons she thinks. It’s not wrong that he loves her, only that he tells the wrong girl those words.

Previous: ‘Cause I saw the end (before we’d begun).

Preview:

“I love you” isn’t something that should be said to a woman when the man saying it has a girlfriend that isn’t her. But Stefan finds the words lingering at the tip of his tongue far too often.

Caroline is special. She laughs when she’s uncomfortable, smiles so no one will notice she’s sad, tries too hard too often, and puts her heart on the line even when that line is actually barbed wire. She’d been his best friend through some of the worst times of his life, she held his hand through the constant triangle debacle of him, Elena, and Damon, and she frequently saved him from giving in to his Ripper side. She was his compass rose, his guide, his home, and, at some point, the feelings he had for her grew into something more.

The first time something changes, they’re dancing…

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Title: Won’t You Dance with Me, Lover of My Soul? (To the Song of all Songs)
Category: The Vampire Diaries
Genre: Romance
Ship: Stefan/Caroline
Chapter Rating: Teen
Overall Rating: NC-17/Explicit
Word Count: 17,635
Summary: [Three-Parts] A journey toward ‘someday.’ Stefan moves on and falls madly in love without even knowing it.

Preview:

The couple beside them was talking, bickering Stefan thought, before the wife finally won.

In perfect Italian, the man wondered, “Sir? Pardon my prying… My wife is curious, you see… She enjoys a good love story.” He smiled, the wrinkles of his face folding even more as he did.

Stefan raised a curious eyebrow but nodded. “How may I help?”

“She wonders… Is that your wife? You are newlyweds, yes?”

Stefan looked back at Caroline, who was watching them as they spoke, though she couldn’t decipher what they were saying, as shown by the befuddled furrow of her brows.

He smiled back at the man and explained, “We are friends… Very good friends.”

The man’s wife did not seem to agree and let out a scoff, tossing her head back, her silver hair swaying, and muttered disagreements under her breath.

Her husband merely grinned at her before turning back to Stefan. “A funny truth… The strongest love always starts with friendship.” With that and a wink, the man swung his wife away, twirling her under his arm, smiling warmly as she giggled like a woman much younger than her years.

Stefan watched them go, mouth turned up at the corners with a smile.

“What was that?” Caroline wondered.

“Something to aspire to.”

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Stefan watches her as she dresses, his arms crossed loosely over his chest as he sits on the bed in little more than the jeans he recently picked up off the floor. He’s silent, merely observing, catching every subtle movement she makes. She’s long past the stage of embarrassment she might have felt at being half-naked around him. She can’t even count how many times they’ve done this now… 

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