deercountry | out of the fire, into the frying pan

Bite? Not right here.

( even if she's managed to calm him down a bit, he still knows where they are. )

Raincheck?

I didn't mean literally, Stef.

[ she gently shoves him and laughs, leaning back comfortably against the canoe. keeping her gaze on him—his knee, then his face again—she shakes her head. ]

Although, I'm very happy that you will. But that doesn't get you out of stroking my ego.

Me biting you isn't enough of an ego stroke?

( or wanting to bite her, at least. that should say something. )

I'm not listing things, Katherine. You're fishing.

As you've said.

[ and as she is the big fish in the sea, she's not going to stop. ]

And I'm nibbling. [ she brushes her elbow against his arm. ] Come on, Stef. [ she pouts. ] Give me one little compliment. A tiny little one.

[ she even suggests how tiny with her index and thumb showing the smallest amount of space between them.

come on, stefan. how can you resist? ]

You're beautiful.

( it's an easy compliment, sure, but it's true. she's beautiful and he likes looking at her. )

There, there's your compliment. I hope you enjoyed it.

[ katherine smiles and remains quiet for a moment as she regards him. she likes it whenever stefan compliments her like that, even though she wants to fidget and shy away. ]

I did.

[ brows furrowing, she tilts her head to the side. pressing her hand against his thigh, she gives him a gentle squeeze. ]

But I don't think I heard you… [ she scrunches up her face. ] Did you say I was okay?

You're not slick.

( or maybe she is but she's not trying to be slick right now. she's trying to get more compliments out of him. she's fishing. he shakes his head. )

But you are beautiful. How was that? Don't ask me to scream it because it's not going to happen.

[ maybe there will be time for screaming it later when they're not in a canoe that's taking them for a little ride around a very questionable river. she'll happily take an i.o.u. ]

You're okay. [ she purses her lips and wrinkles her nose. ] You could be uglier.

[ stefan is one of the most handsome men she's met in a long time. if she tells him, she's afraid he'll combust. ]

I could be.

( stefan makes a face at her and then crosses his eyes to see if that helps. )

Any better?

[ katherine chuckles before she scrunches up her face and studies him intently, narrowing her eyes. he looks a little dorky, but that's how she thinks stefan looks when he's comfortable and being playful. ]

Hm. I think I prefer this look the most.

[ she reaches up to brush her fingers against the tip of his nose. ]

You're very attractive.

Stop.

( he's never going to really know what to do with compliments like that from her even if he's heard them from her before. he just doesn't know what to do with them. )

I'm sure you say that to all the people you find yourselves stuck on a canoe with in the middle of some stupid lake.

Only the very cute ones.

[ like him. that's the very heavy implication that he should hopefully be picking up on.

she reaches her arm up and over and rests it along his shoulders. in her opinion, it's a smooth move. ]

They're very hard to come by, you know. Not everyone's almost two hundred years old and a huge dork.

( stefan glances at the arm that's now across his shoulders and he smirks. yes, that had been very, very smooth. he turns his head and kisses her wrist before he glances at her. )

I am not a huge dork.

( couldn't argue the two hundred years old thing, of course. )

You are a huge dork.

[ he goes to school, he reads, he journals, he likes bon jovi. he knows how to have fun in a way damon doesn't know how to. he may appear upright and like he's the brother who has a stick inserted somewhere, but she knows that's not entirely true.

tapping her fingers against his shoulder, she keeps her arm where it is. ]

Your photograph is actually in one of your textbooks. [ innocently, she furrows her brows. ] Didn't you read your school books?

Edited (i'll fen you) 2021-10-03 01:12 (UTC)

Excuse me, how do you know my picture is in there? Are you reading textbooks in your spare time?

( yeah, he'd picked up on that and yeah, he was going to say something. )

I think if there's a nerd around here, it's you. You read textbooks for fun.

Maybe.

[ she presses her lips together in an impersonation of zipping them right up. katherine isn't a nerd like he is when it comes to education. she learns by experiencing and living. ]

I was curious to know what things you might have read, so I may have borrowed some books from the Library in Deerington. [ she shrugs. ] It was all boring.

You borrowed some books from the library? Just picked random books?

( you nerd. )

Or did you stalk me to see what I read so you could read it too?

Pfft, I did not go that far.

[ she pulls a disgruntled face at that. while she's curious to see what he reads, she just reads his books. no need for that level of commitment. ]

I read what I thought you would read in school. Science is very boring.

What makes you think I would read science?

( he had but he wonders why she'd gone for that. )

Surprised you just didn't pull a dictionary and pretend to read that.

[ katherine rolls her eyes. ]

Reading the dictionary would be dull, Stefan.

[ besides, she was around when all the words came to life and were put in the dictionary. there's no need to read that book. ]

Besides, I know they don't teach you that in school.

How do you know?

( had she gone to school and not told him? he eyes her curiously. )

You audit some classes and not tell me?

[ she shrugs and rubs her hands against her thighs. is it really that hard to believe she would have picked up a book? ]

I've dated a few people who took their education very seriously.

[ she turns her head to look at him pointedly. ]

In college.

[ not high school, jsyk. ]

Oh really?

( stefan leans forward, elbows on his knees and smirks. )

Please tell me about these college men you dated. I'm very curious about these men that I haven't heard of.

Well.

[ katherine sits up taller against the back of the canoe, feeling very much like she needs to prove something to him now. college men are much better than high school boys, after all. ]

They were very sophisticated. And they have nice shoulders.

[ she makes it a point to scrutinise his. hm, looking a bit lanky there, stef. ]

Sophisticated and have nice shoulders.

( the two things that would hook any woman, really. he snickers a bit and then nods. )

Anything else? If they managed to capture your attention, they had to have more than that.

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