we're more than you think
ATHENA DIDN'T KNOW WHY SHE FELT NERVOUS. She had gone straight to Damon's house right after cheerleading practice, which was rather uneventful in its entirety because that's when Stefan told her to come over and get her vervain.
Yet as she waited for him in the living room, Damon off meandering elsewhere in the house, she felt hesitant. Were she and Stefan even close enough friends for her to get a gift from him, compulsion-preventing or not? She wasn't actually sure what she and Stefan classified as.
Friends that had nothing else to bond over other than their history knowledge, and their mutual vampire knowledge?
She'd admit she was somewhat forceful about her friendship with Stefan, but she wasn't going to let him make decisions for her about her well-being when she was perfectly capable of doing so, barring her minimal self-preservation skills.
"Hey, Athena," Stefan smiled as he entered the living room, fresh out of the shower with a pair of sweatpants on.
Athena swallowed harshly at the sight of his bare, toned stomach but forced her eyes back up to his face. She wasn't going to give Elena the satisfaction of fulfilling every terrible rumor she'd ever spread about Athena. No matter how nice Stefan looked at the moment, they didn't see each other like that. Athena could appreciate an attractive person.
"Hey, Stefan. Was practice good?"
Stefan nodded, running a hand through his dried hair. "I think Tyler has it out for me, but other than that it was okay."
Athena smiled slightly. "He's kind of an asshole."
Stefan gestured to her workout clothing she was still in from practice. "What about you? I didn't know you were on the cheerleading team until I saw you on the field."
He'd never admit it out loud, but his eyes had drifted to Athena more than once throughout their separate practices. He knew Elena was over there as well, but there was something about how Athena was moving around with her teammates that had caught his attention. It was the most carefree he'd seen her since he met her.
"I, uh, I'm not really on the team anymore? I quit after the accident in May."
Stefan nodded slowly, choosing to drop the subject she seemed so obviously hesitant to talk about.
"So, do you have vervain for me?" Athena shifted under his unwavering stare, wondering what he was thinking about at the moment that had him looking at her like that.
Stefan's eyes widened slightly at the abrupt topic change and he nodded, digging into the pocket of his sweatpants, and pulling out a dainty-looking necklace.
Her eyes widened at the sight of it, not expecting something so practical yet so helpful.
It was a small thing, but gold and shiny all the same. It caught her attention, certainly. There was a lone charm on it, an oval-like shape engraved with a golden rose. She lifted the charm from where Stefan had been holding it in his palm, eyeing it closely. It was beautiful, really.
"There's vervain inside of it, and as long as you keep it on at all times, no vampire can compel you. I could give you some vervain to ingest, too, but I can't exactly touch it, so,"
She looked at him gratefully, a small smile twitching on her lips. "Thanks, Stefan," She took it from his hands and wrapped it around her neck. She frowned in frustration when her hair got in the way, and Stefan cleared his throat.
"Let me help?"
She nodded silently, and he stepped behind her. Athena took in a sharp breath when Stefan's hands skimmed her bare shoulders, exposed by the tank top she'd worn for practice, and gathered her long hair into a makeshift ponytail that he moved to the side.
She took her hair and lifted it completely, while Stefan took the necklace from her other hand and draped it around her neck. The charm dangled lower than she'd expected, almost catching on the seam of her tank top, but she liked it. It was pretty, and she gleamed at the idea of adding it to her wardrobe.
She felt the necklace hook and dropped her hair, her fingers immediately going to fumble with the pendant on the end of it so she could see the rose a bit closer.
"Do you like it?" Athena jumped, having forgotten Stefan's proximity to her, and Stefan put his hands on her hips to steady her. She exhaled shakily, her eyes dragging up his bare chest and meeting his dark green eyes.
"Yes," She breathed out, her voice barely above a whisper. She searched his face, seeing something unrecognizable in place of his usual kindness. It was darker than any other look she'd seen on his face before, and she wanted to know what it meant.
Athena's eyes dropped down to his lips and she brought them back up before he could notice. She felt her face flush and she tore herself away from Stefan and his spellbinding hold on her.
"I, uh, I'm gonna go. To Damon," She gestured down the hallway, watching Stefan's face fill with an almost disappointed look. "Thank you, Stefan. It means a lot."
She hurried away from him quickly, ignoring the flush in her cheeks and the pounding of her heart.
She was probably just tired from cheerleading.
Yeah, that's what it was.
──────
"Damon, I fucking hate you,"
"God, that's harsh. It felt like you actually meant it," Damon patted at his heart in offense and Athena glared at him, her hands squeezing the plastic cake container and crinkling it loudly.
He'd brought her to Elena's. The last place she wanted to be, ever. And not only was she at Elena's, but Bonnie was there. Her least favorite judgy sidekick. All because Elena wanted her boyfriend and her best friend to get along. How cute.
The door swung open and she met Elena's wide-eyed stare with a glare, wanting nothing more than to make Damon swallow a nice big glass of vervain at the moment. "Surprise," She deadpanned, shoving the cake forward at Elena and walking into the house.
"Stefan mentioned dinner earlier at the house, so here we are,"
"Hope you don't mind," Damon smirked from his place in front of the doorway and Elena's fish-out-of-water look disappeared into something else.
Athena's eyes darted to Stefan as he rushed forward, eyes set forward on his brother. "What are you doing here?"
The dark-haired vampire gestured to Elena. "Waiting for Elena to invite me in,"
"Oh, yeah, you can just–"
"No, no, no," Stefan cut her off, his panic evident as he tried to come up with a lie for his girlfriend's sake. His eyes darted over Elena's shoulder to where Athena was standing, smirking darkly, and he faltered again. "He can't, uh, he can't stay."
"God, I wish he would've told me that," Athena said, earning a glare from Stefan. She turned to face Damon. "Get in here, it's no problem at all. Right, Elena?"
Elena opened her mouth to retort back to Athena, but she bit it back when she remembered Stefan was standing right there.
"We're just finishing up," Stefan shrugged, still floundering for an excuse.
"It's fine," Elena shrugged, turning to face Damon with a smile. "Just come on in."
Damon smiled, the action forced as he stepped over Elena's doorstep. He threw an arm over Athena's shoulder as she led them to the living room. "You have a beautiful home, Elena."
"Thank you," Elena took in a deep breath, her eyes going to the arm he had casually thrown around Athena's shoulders. Unknowingly, Stefan had done the same, his face falling into a glare at the sight.
──────
Athena was lounging in a chair in Elena's living room, sipping the cup of tea she was offered and smirking behind it at the glares Bonnie was throwing her way. "Yeah, I mean, it's amazing that Tanner let you on the team," She inputted, making everyone's eyes fall to her. "Tyler's probably seething. But good for you, Stef, you know? Go for it."
"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage," Damon said from his place on the armrest of the chair she was in. They'd had a silent bicker about it, and eventually, Athena won the seat. "You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."
"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. But it's only because she missed summer camp," Athena shrugged but then tapped her chin contemplatively. "Then again, so did I, so who knows what the issue is. I don't know how you're going to get it down before the game this week."
"I'll work with her. She'll get it." Bonnie glared, her eyes darting worriedly at Elena.
"I could always talk to Caroline about putting her in the back," She feigned contemplation, rolling her eyes at Stefan's somewhat appalled look he had fixed on her.
"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena,"
Elena smiled slightly at that, but it quickly fell when Athena spoke again. "Oh, it's because her parents died. Just totally bummed her out and ruined her pep-factor, you know? She used to be way more fun and not into ruining people's lives just because she's so miserable."
At the sight of the three glares pointed her way, Elena's more fearful than angry, Athena faked a wince. "Oh, you haven't told him about that yet? That's great after-dinner talk, you know. Real 'get to know each other' stuff."
"Athena, stop," Elena glared at her but Athena didn't pay attention to her.
"I mean, it's not like I could ever understand what it's like being in a car accident. It's a crazy thing that only happened to you. Right?"
"Athena, can I talk to you in the other room? Please?" Elena stood up, not waiting for Athena to answer. Huffing, the dark-haired girl got up anyway and set her mug down on the table.
"Oh, no, I'm gonna get scolded," She rolled her eyes and followed Elena into the kitchen, a smug look growing on her face at the sight of Elena's glare.
"What is your problem?" Elena hissed at her, eyes darting to the empty doorway for a few seconds before they went back to Athena.
Athena scoffed, stepping towards Elena with a glare. "I don't know, you tell me. I would've figured you told Stefan about your past since you demanded the truth out of him so adamantly. Or, is that just another hypocritical thing you do?"
Elena stepped towards her, barely a foot of distance between the two teenage girls. "You don't know what you're talking about, Athena. You don't know me."
"I know that you're a diabolical bitch that ruined my life," Athena's voice raised, uncaring if the three in the other room heard their conversation. "One of your supposed best friends is terrified of you because you blackmailed her into dumping me after the accident that wasn't my fault. As I recall, it was your idea to sneak out and go to that stupid fucking party in the first place."
Athena scoffed out a laugh, incredulity coating her features as she shoved a finger at Elena's chest. "You weren't the only one that was in the accident, Elena. And your parents weren't the only people who died that night. If you eased up on your holier-than-thou attitude, you'd remember that Miranda was yelling at you for drinking that night and that's why we went off the bridge. If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourself. Just leave my name out of your mouth, and leave Caroline alone."
Athena shook her head, walking out of the kitchen with heavy steps. She walked into the living room, meeting the gazes of everyone, knowing they'd heard everything that just happened. She bit her lip, hard enough to make a smattering of blood sprout up, but she quickly swiped her tongue over it.
"Can we go now, Damon? Please?" Her tone was weak, but Damon stood, concern clear in his eyes.
He wrapped Athena in a half-hug, bringing her to his side. As he walked her towards the front door, he looked over his shoulder and glared at his brother. Stefan's face flooded with guilt as Elena walked back into the room, her eyes wide as she met Bonnie's look.
Stefan listened to Damon and Athena pull away in the car, and he sighed to himself as he stood up. "I should go. Thank you for dinner, Elena."
He didn't spare his girlfriend another look as he hurried out of her house, thinking about nothing but Athena.
──────
Athena sighed to herself as she walked through the grass outside the school, her thoughts weighing heavily on her mind and distracting her from any sort of mundane, school-related thought. She eyed the wood stacked high for the bonfire, topped with the other team's mascot, and smiled to herself.
Caroline had asked her earlier that day if she would cheer at the game tonight, and she hadn't given a straight answer. She wasn't sure if she was going to.
So quickly her life had changed again. Yet she was hesitant to get any closer to the new people in her life, or reconnect with the old ones because she was just going to end up losing them all over again. But all in the same breath, she couldn't stop it from happening if she truly wanted to.
Whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not, she had emotional ties with people and they only grew stronger the longer she let them go on. And even though she was terrified to venture into vulnerability again, she didn't think it would be that hard with a certain green-eyed boy to help her through it all.
"What are you thinking about?"
She startled slightly, looking at Stefan over her shoulder. She eyed his football jersey and laughed lightly, stopping her stroll through the grass. "Well, now I'm thinking about how stereotypical boy-next-door you look in your jersey."
Stefan laughed, though the sound was sarcastic as he rolled his eyes at her. He nudged her arm, and his gaze shifted to one of sincerity. "Really, though. What's on your mind?"
"Just thinking about cheering tonight in the game. Caroline asked me to, but I don't know if I'm going to yet."
"Why wouldn't you? From what I saw, you're pretty good."
She shrugged off the compliment, glancing down at the grass instead. "I'm not the same as I was when I was on the team. I don't know if I should pretend just to make Caroline happy."
Stefan sighed, eyeing her closely. "Did you like cheerleading before the accident?" She nodded. "Then I think you should do it. Even if you just do it for tonight, you've gotta see if you still like it, right? And who knows, maybe you're not pretending. Maybe it's just you wanting to do things that make you happy again."
Athena looked up at him, shielding her face from the bright sun. "I guess I better go get my uniform on, then,"
Stefan nodded slowly, a wide grin spreading across his face. "I guess so,"
She turned away with a quickly growing grin, walking back from the way she came so she could get her uniform from the locker room.
"Hey!"
Athena turned when Stefan called for her. "What?"
"Does that mean you're going to cheer for me tonight?"
She laughed, shaking her head at him. "I'll cheer just for you, Stefan."
──────
Athena pushed her way through the crowd, going to stand at Caroline's side with her pom-poms in hand. Caroline's eyes widened when she saw who'd joined her, and a smile grew on her face as she met Athena's eyes.
"Well, how do I look?"
Caroline laughed. "Hot."
Athena smiled and turned back to the crowd, shaking her pom-poms as Mr. Tanner called out over the microphone. She cheered along with the crowd, her eyes dancing across the football team before they landed on one person in particular.
She ran a hand down her body, gesturing to her uniform, silently questioning Stefan from across the crowd. He nodded back silently, an approving smile on his face.
"Now let's be honest here," Tanner's voice boomed over the microphone and echoed into the crowd. "In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!"
Athena booed along with the crowd, Caroline nudging her side playfully as she did.
"But that is about to change. We've got some great new talent starting tonight on offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I've seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!"
Athena grinned, feeling her scar pull tight, but she couldn't help it. She cheered, looking at Stefan, and clapped her pom-poms together in a smashing of crinkly plastic.
Abruptly, her attention diverted as Tyler ducked out of the celebration, looking upset and frustrated. Athena felt her curiosity pique, and she quietly wondered where he was running off to.
Following suit, Athena swiftly moved through the crowd of her classmates, finally escaping the tightly bunched students. Her eyes widened when they immediately landed on Tyler, whose head jerked to the side as Jeremy punched him. She gasped and ran towards them as Tyler grabbed Jeremy and threw him to the ground, pinning him there.
"Tyler, stop!" She called out, pushing Vicki away from them so she wouldn't get hurt. Without thinking, Athena kept running and tackled Tyler off of Jeremy, rolling them both to the ground.
Tyler, still engaged in the fight, didn't register who was pinning him down, so he swung again and gasps broke out through the crowd that had gathered around them. Athena yelled out in pain and shoved off of Tyler, grabbing at her face in pain.
Tyler's eyes widened when he realized what had happened and he felt the anger leave his body in a split second. "Athena, oh, my god,"
She glared at him through her teary eyes, unable to stop them at the pain radiating through the fragile bones in her face. She jerked her head back when a hand wrapped around her free wrist and pulled her upward, but when she saw it was Stefan she let him hold her against his jersey-clad chest.
Still caught up in the fight, Jeremy grabbed the broken glass bottle and swung, but Stefan jerked Athena backward, slightly shoving her away from the chaos, and used his fast reflexes to push Tyler out of the way. His hand shielded his face and he winced at the glass slicing through his palm.
Athena's eyes widened and she rushed towards Stefan when she saw the blood on his hand, and quickly grabbed it, smearing some of it down her face where her eyes were already bruising from Tyler's punch. She grimaced at the feeling of it but knew it would cover up any sort of misunderstanding.
Stefan's eyes widened, but when Athena gestured to his healing palm, he seemed to register what she'd done and felt gratitude pour through him.
She turned around quickly when Elena approached, worrying over her boyfriend's hand, but Stefan looked at her reassuringly when she fell silent at the sight of his perfectly healed palm.
"But, I saw it–"
"He missed. It's not my blood, it's Athena's," Stefan shook his head at Elena, gesturing to Athena, who was wincing in pain as her nose continued to swell. "See? I'm fine."
"No, no, no," Elena shook her head, looking between the two. "I saw it. I saw the glass cut your hand."
"It's okay. I'm okay," He sighed, shrugging his girlfriend's worry off. "It's almost kick-off time, alright? I need to help Athena clean up before the game. I'll, uh, I'll see you after. Okay?"
Elena nodded, watching Stefan wrap an arm around Athena's shoulder as he pulled her in the direction of the locker rooms. She watched them confusedly, a thousand questions running through her mind.
──────
"Why did you do that?"
Athena smiled wryly, immediately wincing when the split skin near her eye stung from the movement. "What, save your ass again? We can't have anyone knowing your secret, now, can we?" She sighed, looking in the mirror at her bruised reflection. Maybe this was a sign that she shouldn't cheer after all– who even wants to see a cheerleader with a more fucked up face than she already had?
"We still could've gotten caught. Elena is going to have questions." Stefan spoke solemnly and Athena frowned.
"Why are you always so worried about Elena? I get she's your girlfriend or whatever, but I promise she's not going to find out just because I smeared your blood on my face."
Athena, suddenly reminded of the mess on her face, grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser and wet them in the sink. She eyed her reflection as she wiped her face down, careful to avoid her mouth with the coppery liquid.
"What happens if you drink vampire blood?"
Stefan looked up, frowning. "If you die with vampire blood in your system, you'd wake up in transition."
She nodded, taking in the information. "Would you turn me?"
Stefan furrowed his eyebrows at her. Shaking his head, he frowned. "No, I wouldn't. Being human isn't something to take for granted. You don't want to be like me."
She hummed, neither denying nor confirming his words as she went back to wiping her face off. Using a dry part of the towel, she wiped the last bit off of her face and leaned down, splashing her face with some cold water.
Opening her eyes from where they'd fallen shut, she startled slightly, seeing that Stefan had practically cornered her against the basin of the sink.
"What?" She breathed out, looking up at him through her lashes.
Stefan closed his eyes, squeezing them shut in restraint. "Why did you do that? Why did you lie for me?"
She shrugged. "Because you're my friend, Stefan," She reaches for more paper towels, patting the water off her face.
Stefan exhaled sharply through his nose and forced distance between him and Athena. "You shouldn't have done that. If the wrong person saw what happened, they'll think you're a vampire, too. You could be in danger."
Athena hummed, feeling the headache that had been blooming from her broken nose slowly ebb away. She turned around, the skirt of her cheerleading uniform brushing up against Stefan's side as she faced her reflection again. Her eyes widened at the sight of her healed face, and she made sure she wasn't missing anything.
"Woah," She breathes out, gaining his scrutiny as he took in her now-healed face.
"You must have ingested some of my blood," He shakes his head. "You have to be careful. If you die with vampire blood in your system, you'll start transitioning."
She waved him off, not voicing the fact that she had pointedly not ingested any of his blood. Had gone out of her way to avoid doing so, in fact. She didn't have the time nor the capacity to even think about it right now.
"Come on," She grabs his hand, tugging him towards the door back out to the football field. "The star player can't miss his first game."
──────
I ate your history teacher.
Athena frowned at the text from Damon, her jaw dropping slightly. She'd left the game after their halftime performance, much to Caroline's dismay. She wasn't expecting the night to end with Tanner dead, but she couldn't say she was upset.
Bummer. I have a question.
She didn't need to muster up any sympathy for Mr. Tanner, but she knew that the odd feeling of calm amongst chaos wasn't what the average person might feel regarding death. It was like that night on the roof with Vicki. Where she felt like even though it was a mess, and things could go horribly wrong, she had control.
I don't have an answer.
She rolled her eyes at his response.
What does it mean when my broken nose heals even though I haven't had any vampire blood?
It took a few minutes, but Athena paused her television when her phone finally vibrated with a response.
I actually don't have an answer for that. Why does it matter?
Athena didn't respond. She threw her phone back down on her bed and stared at her ceiling, wondering what the hell it could possibly mean.
──────
author's note; oop— she snapped! also: tension 😳
originally published: 10.31.20.
edited: 11.20.23.
- liz