The Mystic Falls air was thick with the hum of summer—cicadas, distant music from someone’s porch, the slight breeze rustling the trees just outside the Salvatore boarding house. You were sitting cross-legged on Stefan’s bed, wearing one of his hoodies—green, slightly oversized, worn-in like it had lived a thousand lives before ever touching your skin.

He stood across the room near the window, his arms crossed loosely, watching you with this soft look that made your chest tighten. That look he always gave you like he still couldn’t believe you were real.

“Play it again,” you said, reaching lazily for his phone that was docked on the speaker.

Stefan raised a brow. “You really like this one, huh?”

“Just… something about it,” you said, leaning back on your hands as the opening lines of LOVE. by Kendrick and Zacari began to play again. “It feels honest.”

He walked slowly back toward the bed, sitting beside you, your knees touching.

Zacari’s voice poured through the room.

“I wanna be with you…”

Your voice was soft. “Do you ever think about it?”

“About what?”

You turned to face him. “If everything went away. If the Salvatores weren’t vampires. If we didn’t have to fight for our lives every other week. If we were just… normal.”