fic: seems i'm always thinking of you
title: seems I’m always thinking of you
fandom: btvs/tvd (blended into one universe)
characters/ship: pre-dawn/elena, buffy
rating: pg (for swearing maybe and talk of vampires)
summary: They have the conversation of course. “So, vampires huh?” They tell each other parts of their lives stories and hold other parts back. And they know it, but by the end of it their closer. They’re friends. Real friends. They had both forgotten what it was like to make a new friend. (AU for TVD, Elena is still human, and post-Chosen for BTVS. For the meme prompt fake!dating)
Dawn doesn’t know why they ended up in Cleveland of all places. Well she does, but really, they had already ended one Hellmouth, it seemed like they should get a free pass from this one. In her opinion they had stopped plenty of apocalypses already, they deserved more of a break.
(It’s not like they ever really got one, with Slayer training and searching and Dawn and her future Watcher training. They weren’t allowed breaks, it didn’t come with the Slayer gig, even if you weren’t actually a Slayer.)
But Buffy said and here they were.
Elena knew why she was in Cleveland. She was running away; from vampires and magic and the supernatural and evil doppelgangers and anything else that had ever hurt her. Cleveland wasn’t as far away as she would have liked, but she didn’t have the grades or the money to get her into another school, and she couldn’t compel or magic her way in to anywhere she liked. Not that Bonnie or Caroline had done either.
(Bonnie had gone to Whitmore, not straying too far from the town she felt it was her duty to protect. Caroline was sulking in Southern France, because they were all supposed to go to college together, and she was mad at them both.)
They still talked sometimes, the only two left that mattered, but it wasn’t the same. She felt like she was running from them too.
Dawn and Elena are assigned as roommates and they smile and keep to their own sides of the dorm room.
Dawn keeps her bag of weapons under her bed and her tomes of ancient texts in a plain unremarkable bag in the closet.
Elena keeps her vervain plant in the window and a stake in her bedside table.
They smile and talk about what classes they share.
They find out they both know about vampires the hard way.
Two weeks in to classes and a dead body is found, two holes in the neck. Dawn plans to handle it on her own (with help of the sister variety only if necessary) and Elena decides to pretend she doesn’t know what it means. But she takes to sleeping with the curtains open and the stake is moved to underneath her pillow.
Their walking home together after a party, when the vampire attacks.
It happens in a blur of frat boy, two brunettes, vervain water and a stake that is suddenly in Dawn’s hand and then disappearing in a pile of dust.
“I didn’t know they did that,” Is all Elena says.
(She had never seen a vampire turn to dust before. All the ones she had seen had turned grey but never to ash.
And Elena had seen plenty of vampires die, just not always the right ones.)
“Sorry about your stake.” Dawn says. It sounds stupid once it’s out of her mouth.
“It’s okay,” Elena shrugs, “I have more.”
(They have the conversation of course.
“So, vampires huh?”
They tell each other parts of their lives stories and hold other parts back. And they know it, but by the end of it their closer. They’re friends. Real friends.
They had both forgotten what it was like to make a new friend.)
“Is it just me or does Professor Montgomery’s voice get more monotone every class?” Elena asks, taking off her shirt as she changes into her pajamas.
(Elena has tons of boundaries, she doesn’t like to talk about her past, about her family, about her friends that don’t go there. She doesn’t talk about the faint scars of teeth marks on her neck.
Other things she’s less shy about.)
Dawn looks up from her books, ancient Sumerian that she’s translating for Willow because apparently she’s the only one who bothered to learn it. Elena’s in a t-shirt and shorts, her long hair swept to one side, and Dawn can’t help but think she looks pretty.
Dawn shakes the thoughts away and nods in agreement. “I think she’s trying to see how many students she can make fall asleep in one class. Her and Professor Johnson, they have a bet going on or something.”
Elena laughs.
“Are you done with your boring book yet?” Elena smiles coming up behind her.
She had gone through Dawn’s collection already, most of it in languages she didn’t understand, but she had looked at the drawing and read the Watcher journals that Dawn had borrowed (stolen) and had been fascinated by them and the stories they told. By the history there.
“It’s not boring.” Dawn says.
“If it wasn’t then there would be a version in English already.” Elena sing songs.
She hugs Dawn from behind to take away the sting, because she knows Dawn likes her musty old books, and dances back to her side of the room.
“When you’re done, I have chocolate and borrowed (stolen) notes for Professor Montgomery’s class.” She says flopping down on her bed.
Dawn finishes quickly, putting off the rest until the next day. After all, Buffy had said her education was important.
“I think the instructor was trying to kill us.” Dawn complains, flopping down on Elena’s bed. (It’s closer.)
Elena laughs, lying down beside her. “Its yoga, it’s supposed to be relaxing.”
“Tell that to the evil demon who made me bend my body in ways it shouldn’t be bent.”
She paused, because God in a different context that was usually her life, but not recently.
“Seriously, I’m thinking he’s evil.”
“You’ll get used to it.” Elena says, resting her hand on Dawn’s arm, “And then you’ll love it. Just like what happened with me.”
She grins as she hops off the bed, gathering her things for the shower.
“Now hurry up or all the good showers will be taken.”
Dawn groans trying to get the energy to get up off Elena’s bed.
(When Elena returns, she’s still there, fast asleep.
Evil minions of hell, Dawn could take. A little downward facing dog, not so much.)
“I have a problem.” Dawn says. It comes out surprisingly hesitant and Elena is instantly on alert. Dawn is nothing if not upfront or honest. She reminds her of Caroline in that way sometimes. Though much less invested in party planning.
“What is it?”
“I told you about Buffy, right?”
“Older sister, slayer of things that go bump in the night, majorly over protective, and keeps forgetting you’re over eighteen and therefore an adult.” Elena ticks off her fingers.
Dawn nods, “Well, she calls a lot.”
“I know.” Elena says. They don’t talk about the lack of calls Elena gets.
“And she’s all, ‘I just want to make sure your adjusting well’ and ‘you deserve a chance at a semi normal life’, which I mean, as if, really.”
Elena nods along, figuring this rant might last a while. They usually do. Willow and Xander and sometimes Giles and there oppressiveness (Elena still wasn’t sure that was really a word no matter what the dictionary said) come in to it too. But Dawn stops short, doesn’t continue on. Instead she seems tongue tied and unsure and like maybe her hands can’t stop moving.
“Dawn?”
“Look, I just wanted to get her off my back okay? I didn’t think you’d be dragged into this.”
“Dragged into what?”
“I might have kind of told them we were dating.” Dawn says in a rush.
“You did?”
“I just, your my best friend, I talk about you all the time and when she asked-It just seemed like a natural fit. To you know get her off my back.” She says quickly, “To make her stop with the questions. Only again, backfire.”
Elena smiled, her hand going to Dawn’s to help calm her down. (It did.) “What’s the backfire?”
“She wants to meet you.”
“Okay,” Elena shrugs, “I’m kind of curious about her too.”
“But she’ll expect things, like kissing and-”
“Dawn, seriously, I’m pretty sure if we were dating, then it would be the most healthy relationship I’ve ever been in.” Elena shakes her head, “It would be nice even, falling in love with my best friend.”
Dawn smiles hesitantly, “You’re sure?”
“Just tell me when and where.”
They meet Buffy in a café, seemingly harmless and even cheerful. But she has her Slayer face on when she shakes Elena’s hand, Elena might not know what it looks like but Dawn does, and she’s not happy.
The two of them are holding hands and Buffy’s eyes linger before she offers to buy muffins and Elena jumps at the chance of anything chocolate-y, which should win her points but somehow doesn’t. Buffy gives Dawn a twenty and sends her to buy them.
“And coffee too,” Elena calls after her, “You know how I like it.”
Dawn smirks to herself imaging what else her sister might be thinking about the two of them liking things together.
“So,” Buffy says, “Dawnie says you two have a lot in common.”
“Kind of.” Elena says, “She’s gotten me addicted to reality TV shows and I got her to start writing a journal. And join me in yoga class. She hated it at first, but now, she loves it. Though she’ll never admit it out loud.”
“That’s because you never admit to liking torture,” Dawn says returning with a bundle of goods. “People judge you for that.”
Elena laughs and steals her chocolate muffin from Dawn, she groans when she sees it double chocolate in the form of chunks. “Dawn, you are a goddess.”
She leans up and kisses Dawn lightly on the mouth, her lips soft and gentle as she grins against her lips.
It feels natural, like they’ve done it before.
“So what were you two talking about?” Dawn says settling into her seat.
“Not much yet.” Buffy says and the yet lingers in the air.
“Well what should we cover?” Dawn asks, “Majors? Most hated professors? Her addiction to chocolate?”
“Let’s start with your major.” Buffy says turning all her attention to Elena. (Never a good sign.)
“English.” Elena says, “As in literature not as in the language, not all of us can be as smart as Dawn.”
She smiles and grabs Dawn hand, her lips still tingling.
“Don’t let her fool you. Her short stories are amazing.”
“You’re going to be a writer?” Buffy asks.
“I…”
“It’s a possibility,” Dawn steps in for her. She knows that it’s still hard for Elena to talk about, that the ghost of Miranda Gilbert was always there when she was working on a story, whispering in her ear.
(Her own mother visited much less frequently, but Dawn felt her over her shoulders sometimes too.)
“She’s a freshman, she still figuring it all out.”
“So what kind of stories do you write?”
Elena sighed softly, picking off a piece of her muffin, “Fiction mostly. Unless classes call for something else.”
“What kind?”
“Buffy…”
“What? I’m just curious. You know, there’s that crazy vampire fad going on…”
Her eyes are firmly locked on the cross Elena’s wearing, one that used to belong to Dawn (she had stolen it back in the day), and had been gifted to Elena.
“Nope. No stories about vampires. Like I said, I write fiction.” Elena says and the cat’s out of the bag.
The look on Buffy’s face makes Dawn break out into giggles. And Elena smiles at her warmly, glad she wasn’t upset with her.
“So should we talk about yoga now?” Dawn asks, her sister’s mouth still open. “Because there might be an evil instructor for you to slay in town.”
(Dawn and Buffy have a hushed argument outside while Elena polishes off hers and Dawn’s muffins.
Words carry in the wind, that most people would find crazy or confusing, but mostly it boils down to this:
“You told her? How could you tell her?”
“She already knew.”
“How?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Dawn.”
“Buffy.”
There’s a lot of glaring involved.)
They return to their dorm room, their hands still interlocked.
“I’m sorry about Buffy, I’m sure it makes meeting most families seem easy.”
“Well, usually I have to worry less about them being able to crush me with their little fingers, but it wasn’t so bad. I’ve met worse siblings of people I’m dating.” Elena says.
She lets her hand slip away as she removes her boots and goes to sit on Dawn’s bed.
“Still, Buffy-she’s just overprotective and annoying.”
“All siblings are like that.” Elena says, “I think it’s kind of nice actually.”
Dawn rolls her eyes, “You would.”
Elena laughs and lays down on the bed, curling up with one of Dawn’s pillows. It’s still early, but she’s tired. “Older sisters have to stick together.”
Dawn snorts and comes to lie down beside her. Elena was in her bed after all.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind meeting the rest of them.”
“The rest of who?”
“Willow, Xander, Giles; whoever you want me to meet.” Elena smiles. “I’d like to meet them all.”
Dawn grins as she looks at her. “I’d like that too.”
fandom: btvs/tvd (blended into one universe)
characters/ship: pre-dawn/elena, buffy
rating: pg (for swearing maybe and talk of vampires)
summary: They have the conversation of course. “So, vampires huh?” They tell each other parts of their lives stories and hold other parts back. And they know it, but by the end of it their closer. They’re friends. Real friends. They had both forgotten what it was like to make a new friend. (AU for TVD, Elena is still human, and post-Chosen for BTVS. For the meme prompt fake!dating)
Dawn doesn’t know why they ended up in Cleveland of all places. Well she does, but really, they had already ended one Hellmouth, it seemed like they should get a free pass from this one. In her opinion they had stopped plenty of apocalypses already, they deserved more of a break.
(It’s not like they ever really got one, with Slayer training and searching and Dawn and her future Watcher training. They weren’t allowed breaks, it didn’t come with the Slayer gig, even if you weren’t actually a Slayer.)
But Buffy said and here they were.
Elena knew why she was in Cleveland. She was running away; from vampires and magic and the supernatural and evil doppelgangers and anything else that had ever hurt her. Cleveland wasn’t as far away as she would have liked, but she didn’t have the grades or the money to get her into another school, and she couldn’t compel or magic her way in to anywhere she liked. Not that Bonnie or Caroline had done either.
(Bonnie had gone to Whitmore, not straying too far from the town she felt it was her duty to protect. Caroline was sulking in Southern France, because they were all supposed to go to college together, and she was mad at them both.)
They still talked sometimes, the only two left that mattered, but it wasn’t the same. She felt like she was running from them too.
Dawn and Elena are assigned as roommates and they smile and keep to their own sides of the dorm room.
Dawn keeps her bag of weapons under her bed and her tomes of ancient texts in a plain unremarkable bag in the closet.
Elena keeps her vervain plant in the window and a stake in her bedside table.
They smile and talk about what classes they share.
They find out they both know about vampires the hard way.
Two weeks in to classes and a dead body is found, two holes in the neck. Dawn plans to handle it on her own (with help of the sister variety only if necessary) and Elena decides to pretend she doesn’t know what it means. But she takes to sleeping with the curtains open and the stake is moved to underneath her pillow.
Their walking home together after a party, when the vampire attacks.
It happens in a blur of frat boy, two brunettes, vervain water and a stake that is suddenly in Dawn’s hand and then disappearing in a pile of dust.
“I didn’t know they did that,” Is all Elena says.
(She had never seen a vampire turn to dust before. All the ones she had seen had turned grey but never to ash.
And Elena had seen plenty of vampires die, just not always the right ones.)
“Sorry about your stake.” Dawn says. It sounds stupid once it’s out of her mouth.
“It’s okay,” Elena shrugs, “I have more.”
(They have the conversation of course.
“So, vampires huh?”
They tell each other parts of their lives stories and hold other parts back. And they know it, but by the end of it their closer. They’re friends. Real friends.
They had both forgotten what it was like to make a new friend.)
“Is it just me or does Professor Montgomery’s voice get more monotone every class?” Elena asks, taking off her shirt as she changes into her pajamas.
(Elena has tons of boundaries, she doesn’t like to talk about her past, about her family, about her friends that don’t go there. She doesn’t talk about the faint scars of teeth marks on her neck.
Other things she’s less shy about.)
Dawn looks up from her books, ancient Sumerian that she’s translating for Willow because apparently she’s the only one who bothered to learn it. Elena’s in a t-shirt and shorts, her long hair swept to one side, and Dawn can’t help but think she looks pretty.
Dawn shakes the thoughts away and nods in agreement. “I think she’s trying to see how many students she can make fall asleep in one class. Her and Professor Johnson, they have a bet going on or something.”
Elena laughs.
“Are you done with your boring book yet?” Elena smiles coming up behind her.
She had gone through Dawn’s collection already, most of it in languages she didn’t understand, but she had looked at the drawing and read the Watcher journals that Dawn had borrowed (stolen) and had been fascinated by them and the stories they told. By the history there.
“It’s not boring.” Dawn says.
“If it wasn’t then there would be a version in English already.” Elena sing songs.
She hugs Dawn from behind to take away the sting, because she knows Dawn likes her musty old books, and dances back to her side of the room.
“When you’re done, I have chocolate and borrowed (stolen) notes for Professor Montgomery’s class.” She says flopping down on her bed.
Dawn finishes quickly, putting off the rest until the next day. After all, Buffy had said her education was important.
“I think the instructor was trying to kill us.” Dawn complains, flopping down on Elena’s bed. (It’s closer.)
Elena laughs, lying down beside her. “Its yoga, it’s supposed to be relaxing.”
“Tell that to the evil demon who made me bend my body in ways it shouldn’t be bent.”
She paused, because God in a different context that was usually her life, but not recently.
“Seriously, I’m thinking he’s evil.”
“You’ll get used to it.” Elena says, resting her hand on Dawn’s arm, “And then you’ll love it. Just like what happened with me.”
She grins as she hops off the bed, gathering her things for the shower.
“Now hurry up or all the good showers will be taken.”
Dawn groans trying to get the energy to get up off Elena’s bed.
(When Elena returns, she’s still there, fast asleep.
Evil minions of hell, Dawn could take. A little downward facing dog, not so much.)
“I have a problem.” Dawn says. It comes out surprisingly hesitant and Elena is instantly on alert. Dawn is nothing if not upfront or honest. She reminds her of Caroline in that way sometimes. Though much less invested in party planning.
“What is it?”
“I told you about Buffy, right?”
“Older sister, slayer of things that go bump in the night, majorly over protective, and keeps forgetting you’re over eighteen and therefore an adult.” Elena ticks off her fingers.
Dawn nods, “Well, she calls a lot.”
“I know.” Elena says. They don’t talk about the lack of calls Elena gets.
“And she’s all, ‘I just want to make sure your adjusting well’ and ‘you deserve a chance at a semi normal life’, which I mean, as if, really.”
Elena nods along, figuring this rant might last a while. They usually do. Willow and Xander and sometimes Giles and there oppressiveness (Elena still wasn’t sure that was really a word no matter what the dictionary said) come in to it too. But Dawn stops short, doesn’t continue on. Instead she seems tongue tied and unsure and like maybe her hands can’t stop moving.
“Dawn?”
“Look, I just wanted to get her off my back okay? I didn’t think you’d be dragged into this.”
“Dragged into what?”
“I might have kind of told them we were dating.” Dawn says in a rush.
“You did?”
“I just, your my best friend, I talk about you all the time and when she asked-It just seemed like a natural fit. To you know get her off my back.” She says quickly, “To make her stop with the questions. Only again, backfire.”
Elena smiled, her hand going to Dawn’s to help calm her down. (It did.) “What’s the backfire?”
“She wants to meet you.”
“Okay,” Elena shrugs, “I’m kind of curious about her too.”
“But she’ll expect things, like kissing and-”
“Dawn, seriously, I’m pretty sure if we were dating, then it would be the most healthy relationship I’ve ever been in.” Elena shakes her head, “It would be nice even, falling in love with my best friend.”
Dawn smiles hesitantly, “You’re sure?”
“Just tell me when and where.”
They meet Buffy in a café, seemingly harmless and even cheerful. But she has her Slayer face on when she shakes Elena’s hand, Elena might not know what it looks like but Dawn does, and she’s not happy.
The two of them are holding hands and Buffy’s eyes linger before she offers to buy muffins and Elena jumps at the chance of anything chocolate-y, which should win her points but somehow doesn’t. Buffy gives Dawn a twenty and sends her to buy them.
“And coffee too,” Elena calls after her, “You know how I like it.”
Dawn smirks to herself imaging what else her sister might be thinking about the two of them liking things together.
“So,” Buffy says, “Dawnie says you two have a lot in common.”
“Kind of.” Elena says, “She’s gotten me addicted to reality TV shows and I got her to start writing a journal. And join me in yoga class. She hated it at first, but now, she loves it. Though she’ll never admit it out loud.”
“That’s because you never admit to liking torture,” Dawn says returning with a bundle of goods. “People judge you for that.”
Elena laughs and steals her chocolate muffin from Dawn, she groans when she sees it double chocolate in the form of chunks. “Dawn, you are a goddess.”
She leans up and kisses Dawn lightly on the mouth, her lips soft and gentle as she grins against her lips.
It feels natural, like they’ve done it before.
“So what were you two talking about?” Dawn says settling into her seat.
“Not much yet.” Buffy says and the yet lingers in the air.
“Well what should we cover?” Dawn asks, “Majors? Most hated professors? Her addiction to chocolate?”
“Let’s start with your major.” Buffy says turning all her attention to Elena. (Never a good sign.)
“English.” Elena says, “As in literature not as in the language, not all of us can be as smart as Dawn.”
She smiles and grabs Dawn hand, her lips still tingling.
“Don’t let her fool you. Her short stories are amazing.”
“You’re going to be a writer?” Buffy asks.
“I…”
“It’s a possibility,” Dawn steps in for her. She knows that it’s still hard for Elena to talk about, that the ghost of Miranda Gilbert was always there when she was working on a story, whispering in her ear.
(Her own mother visited much less frequently, but Dawn felt her over her shoulders sometimes too.)
“She’s a freshman, she still figuring it all out.”
“So what kind of stories do you write?”
Elena sighed softly, picking off a piece of her muffin, “Fiction mostly. Unless classes call for something else.”
“What kind?”
“Buffy…”
“What? I’m just curious. You know, there’s that crazy vampire fad going on…”
Her eyes are firmly locked on the cross Elena’s wearing, one that used to belong to Dawn (she had stolen it back in the day), and had been gifted to Elena.
“Nope. No stories about vampires. Like I said, I write fiction.” Elena says and the cat’s out of the bag.
The look on Buffy’s face makes Dawn break out into giggles. And Elena smiles at her warmly, glad she wasn’t upset with her.
“So should we talk about yoga now?” Dawn asks, her sister’s mouth still open. “Because there might be an evil instructor for you to slay in town.”
(Dawn and Buffy have a hushed argument outside while Elena polishes off hers and Dawn’s muffins.
Words carry in the wind, that most people would find crazy or confusing, but mostly it boils down to this:
“You told her? How could you tell her?”
“She already knew.”
“How?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Dawn.”
“Buffy.”
There’s a lot of glaring involved.)
They return to their dorm room, their hands still interlocked.
“I’m sorry about Buffy, I’m sure it makes meeting most families seem easy.”
“Well, usually I have to worry less about them being able to crush me with their little fingers, but it wasn’t so bad. I’ve met worse siblings of people I’m dating.” Elena says.
She lets her hand slip away as she removes her boots and goes to sit on Dawn’s bed.
“Still, Buffy-she’s just overprotective and annoying.”
“All siblings are like that.” Elena says, “I think it’s kind of nice actually.”
Dawn rolls her eyes, “You would.”
Elena laughs and lays down on the bed, curling up with one of Dawn’s pillows. It’s still early, but she’s tired. “Older sisters have to stick together.”
Dawn snorts and comes to lie down beside her. Elena was in her bed after all.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind meeting the rest of them.”
“The rest of who?”
“Willow, Xander, Giles; whoever you want me to meet.” Elena smiles. “I’d like to meet them all.”
Dawn grins as she looks at her. “I’d like that too.”