It's okay, Ethan. Elena Gilbert is something of a big idiot herself.
Ethan may be leaning in to watch the clip on the phone, but Elena in turn is watching him. The nuances in his reactions and the range of emotions within them. Amazement and amusement and then -- something else, something that makes her chest clench with it, until she almost wonders if it wasn't too cruel to show him. When he looks away, Elena quietly slips the phone back into her pocket. She doesn't say anything at first, simply stares down at the drinks in front of them. She reaches for the bottle and fills them up again, and she wonders just how exactly she plans on walking toward the door when she is imbibing copious amounts of alcohol.
"We are," she says in that soft voice that doesn't quite leave her.
They're happy and they're good together.
And it isn't him, no. But it doesn't mean he won't experience joy. He will. Not immediately, maybe. Once the door sends him back to where he was supposed to go, life will be very hard. He will be tested in ways he has never been tested before, but then life will be very beautiful again. He'll find a light of his own. He'll smile and laugh and be happy in a way his own Elena has never seen him before, and it will make her very happy for him. (And there is a part that will hurt at it, in ways she will not examine, much less acknowledge.) There are many beautiful stories for him to have, and this is just one of many, and she is glad that it is hers.
Elena swallows, blinking past the own burning in her eyes, and she shares another drink with him before she sets it back down. "So... S!Ethan and O!Ethan? S and O? It's kind of like you're in a Bond movie," Elena says with a slightly drunken grin, before she taps her fingers lightly against the table. "So. S!Ethan. What else is there to do on this ship aside from drinking?" she asks in a demandingly curious tone. Elena, you should not even be thinking of that rn.
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Ethan may be leaning in to watch the clip on the phone, but Elena in turn is watching him. The nuances in his reactions and the range of emotions within them. Amazement and amusement and then -- something else, something that makes her chest clench with it, until she almost wonders if it wasn't too cruel to show him. When he looks away, Elena quietly slips the phone back into her pocket. She doesn't say anything at first, simply stares down at the drinks in front of them. She reaches for the bottle and fills them up again, and she wonders just how exactly she plans on walking toward the door when she is imbibing copious amounts of alcohol.
"We are," she says in that soft voice that doesn't quite leave her.
They're happy and they're good together.
And it isn't him, no. But it doesn't mean he won't experience joy. He will. Not immediately, maybe. Once the door sends him back to where he was supposed to go, life will be very hard. He will be tested in ways he has never been tested before, but then life will be very beautiful again. He'll find a light of his own. He'll smile and laugh and be happy in a way his own Elena has never seen him before, and it will make her very happy for him. (And there is a part that will hurt at it, in ways she will not examine, much less acknowledge.) There are many beautiful stories for him to have, and this is just one of many, and she is glad that it is hers.
Elena swallows, blinking past the own burning in her eyes, and she shares another drink with him before she sets it back down. "So... S!Ethan and O!Ethan? S and O? It's kind of like you're in a Bond movie," Elena says with a slightly drunken grin, before she taps her fingers lightly against the table. "So. S!Ethan. What else is there to do on this ship aside from drinking?" she asks in a demandingly curious tone. Elena, you should not even be thinking of that rn.