TVD/TO Oneshots

California (Matt Donovan)

Written for Fictober 2022!

Prompt: "There's only us"

Summary: After living in Mystic Falls for their entire lives, Y/N and Matt Donovan finally left to go to college somewhere else, where they have a shot at normal, happy lives. And they're not about to let anything ruin that.

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I sighed as I looked out at the surf and sand before me. The sun warmed my face just right, and the sound of kids laughing as the waves crashed against the beach made me feel more relaxed than I'd been in a long, long time.

After spending eighteen years of my life in Mystic Falls, Virginia, and suffering the danger, supernatural headaches, and cold weather, I'd finally decided to get the hell out when it came time for college.

I'd barely survived high school, thanks to all the vampires, witches, and werewolves running around that town, so I'd decided to get as far away from all of them as I could. I'd ended up in San Diego, California, where the sun alone helped limit the vampire population, and I'd quite literally never been happier in my life.

My newfound peace was helped by the fact that I'd somehow managed to convince Matt, my best friend and, as of senior year, my boyfriend, to leave with me. He'd been agonizing over the decision for months, including the entirety of our senior year. I'd convinced him to at least apply to some California schools with me, since he didn't have to go even if he got in.

Then, in December, we found out we'd both gotten into the same school here. Matt had been tearing himself up wrestling with the decision, but it had literally never been clearer to me. There was nothing for either of us in Mystic Falls but pain and misery.

Finally, just before the May 1st decision deadline, I'd convinced him to take his football scholarship offer and run with me. Graduation had been hard, and the few months of summer in Mystic Falls seemed to drag. Matt clearly felt guilty leaving everyone behind, and I was personally terrified that–after surviving the most ridiculous things imaginable since the Salvatores moved into town–the thing that did us in was finally going to come, before we got the chance to escape. But it didn't happen, and as August came to an end, Matt and I got on a plane together and didn't look back.

And now, we were here, months into our freshman year of college and happier than we'd ever been. It had taken Matt a little longer to adjust than me, but with his blonde shaggy hair and general athleticism, he was born to be a California Surfer Boy. It was only a matter of time.

We'd just finished a late afternoon, post-class surf session and were relaxing on the beach as we watched the sun sink into the ocean when Matt had gotten a call. He'd jumped up and rushed off to take it, and whenever I looked over my shoulder, I could see him pacing. I knew he'd come back any second, telling me all about whatever it was that had him so worked up, so I was trying to get myself to as calm a place as possible before then.

After a few minutes, Matt came back as expected. He stood next to me, not sitting down on his towel, and I quickly but calmly stood up to face him.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, and I could see him clenching his jaw in the way he always did when he got stressed.

"That was Elena."

I sighed, trying not to let myself get worked up. Elena had never really been my favorite person, but especially since she'd turned into a vampire and formed some alliance/relationship with Damon that constantly tried to endanger me and my boyfriend, I was even less of a fan.

"She said there's some new trouble stirring up at Whitmore." Caroline and Elena had gone to Whitmore to start college, less than an hour's drive from Mystic Falls and clearly still in the sphere of supernatural influence. I'd never been happier about my decision to go somewhere else. "She said she knows we're busy out here, and she doesn't want to interrupt any of that, but that they're a little short on humans they can trust to help them with things."