TVD/TO Oneshots

Fresh Start (Stefan Salvatore)

Written for Fictober 2022 on Tumblr!

Prompt: "We all have our reasons"

Summary: Y/N is a non-practicing witch, living her own peaceful life in a small town after running away from home a few years ago. Stefan shows up looking to do the same thing and pretending to be human, although Y/N realizes he's a vampire on-sight. They don't press him, though, even as they start dating. When things start to get more serious, however, they can't continue ignoring the secrets and truths of each others' pasts.

Warnings: Mention of an abusive family, but no description

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"We're closed- oh, hey Stef."

"Hey, Y/N." My friend and boyfriend of about the last month gave me a small smile as he walked through the door of my bar. We were closed for the night, so I'd briefly been bracing myself to throw out somebody who didn't realize or want to accept that fact, but Stefan came to spend time with me as I closed things down pretty regularly.

We'd met in this same bar just over a month ago. Stefan had just arrived in town, and after moving into his house on the edge of town, he'd wandered into the bar to start introducing himself to everyone. I'd served him a drink while we chatted, and we'd actually hit it off the bat fairly quickly, which I hadn't been expecting to do with a vampire.

He hadn't officially told me he was a vampire yet, of course. But I was an out-of-practice witch. And just because I'd left my coven and come here for a different life, didn't mean I couldn't still clock a vampire from a hundred yards out.

Stefan and I had been on a few dates since we'd first met, and I kept hoping he'd trust me enough to confess his secret to me himself. Every time I thought he might be working up to it, however, he talked about something else instead. For whatever reason, he seemed hell-bent on pretending to be human while he lived in this place.

I couldn't exactly blame him, since I'd been doing the same thing since I'd left my coven at 18. Still, I at least wanted him to trust me enough to let me in the loop.

"How was work today?" asked Stefan, pulling up a barstool and watching me as I wiped down the counter. I shot him a smile.

"It was fine. Nothing too crazy, no rowdy patrons or strange and mysterious newcomers." He huffed a laugh at that, and I grinned before continuing. "Overall, I'd say it was an average day. How about you? How's the garage?"

"It's good," he said. Within a few days of arriving, he'd gotten a job at our local mechanic shop fixing up cars. I knew for a fact he was being underpaid, but he didn't really seem to care. "I got to work on an old Thunderbird today, which almost made the oil stains on every piece of clothing I wore today, somehow including my underwear, worth it."

I laughed at that, and Stefan gave me a pleased smile. I finished wiping down the counter and tossed the rag, then walked around the counter to take the barstool beside Stefan. The only thing left for me to do was put up the chairs, turn off the lights, and lock the doors, but Stefan and I had made a routine of hanging out here a bit longer than we necessarily needed to as a mini, casual date.

"Well, I'm glad you had a good day," I said. "And that you changed your clothes before coming to see me."

Stefan smirked and hummed, then reached forward to pull my barstool even closer to him. He leaned forward, resting one arm against the bar counter and around me as he got in my space.

"What's the matter? You don't want the smell of motor oil on all of your clothes?"

"I know it may sound strange, but no. No, I absolutely do not."