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The first time Josie ever sees Hope painting is during her daily trip to the Salvatore School’s greenhouse, where she waters each and every plant with care, never giving one of them more attention than the other. Normally, she’d go later in the afternoon so she could enjoy watching the sunset, but today she was reminded by Lizzie that the blonde had a date that evening, meaning that Josie was basically required as her sister to help her get ready.
The brunette takes her time walking to the greenhouse, humming a small tune as she opens the glass sliding doors, watering can in hand. It’s only when she’s inside of the glass building that she realizes she isn’t the only in there.
Perched on a small stool in front on an easel and a set of paints sat Hope Mikaelson, her brows furrowed and her eyes concentrated on the almost-finished canvas. For a moment Josie freezes, and she chooses not to make her presence known as she stares at the auburnette for what feels like hours.
Instead of her usual Salvatore School uniform, she’s dressed in a pair of leggings and a plain white t-shirt, which wasn’t so plain anymore, as it was covered in an array of different splotches of paint.
From where Josie’s standing, she gets the perfect side profile of Hope, and admires the way the sun shines on her face so that her blue eyes seem even more bright and clear.
As if sensing her presence, Hope turns her head to the side, making eye contact with the brunette, who looks away and breaks off eye contact immediately. A faint blush rushes to her cheeks at being caught so blatantly staring at her.
If Hope notices, she doesn’t comment on it as she gives the brunette a warm smile. “Hey, I didn’t know you came here.”
Josie nodded, before shaking her head as if to focus on the task at hand; watering the plants. Upon seeing the auburnette, it seemed as if she forgot all about her intentions of coming here in the first place. “Yeah, I volunteered to water the plants.” She turns away from Hope to face a particularly big plant she named Kevin a few weeks ago, tilting her watering can and watching as the water slowly seeps into the soil. After generously watering it, she moves on to the one next to it. “What about you?”
Hope gestures towards the canvas, and now that Josie has a more clear view she notices that it’s a beautiful landscape. “I like to paint, it helps me clear my mind when I can’t wolf out.” She stares ahead of her, taking in the sight of flat grass that stretches out into the forest. “The view from here is breathtaking.”
Josie nods. “You should come here during a sunset.” She looks up from where she’s watering another plant, reminiscing to the sunset a few days ago, where the hues of yellow and red were particularly more vivid than any other day.
Hope smiles appreciatively, “Maybe I will.”
--
The first time Hope ever sees Josie playing the piano is on the exact same day. For the tribrid, it’s another one of those restless nights where she can’t sleep. She had decided to turn in early, but after tossing and turning in bed for hours, she finally decided to get up and head to the school’s kitchen for a glass of milk.
The whole atmosphere of the Salvatore School is completely different at midnight. The normally loud and bustling school filled with chaotic supernaturals was now dormant, and Hope could hear the faint noise of mice scurrying across the halls.
She silently tiptoes down the stairs, not wanting to be caught being out after curfew. When she nears the kitchen, she begins to hear the slow and melodic sound of a piano. Curious as to who could be playing at this time, Hope follows the ominous sound to the great hall, where she finds a figure sitting on the bench in front of the grand piano.
That’s strange. She thinks, and instantly becomes alarmed in case there was another monster lurking around. They had stopped appearing ever since Landon had died from the golden arrow, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be coming back.
The figure doesn’t seem to notice her, too engrossed in the musical piece to pay any attention to the outside world.
As Hope walks closer, she starts to make out distinct features of the mystery person, and her eyes widen in shock once she can clearly see who it is.
“Josie?”
The brunette looks up, clearly startled as her hands accidentally slam into the keys, making Hope wince.
“Hope. H-hey.” She tilts her head in confusion as she stares at the latter. “What are you doing here?”
The auburnette raises an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same.” She calmly takes a seat on the bench right next to Josie. The bench is so small that every so often their knees accidentally brush against each other, and Hope has to ignore the jolt of electricity she gets every time they do.
Josie doesn’t answer, and instead keeps staring at the older girl with wide eyes, who in return gestures to the keys of the piano, motioning for her to continue playing. She shakes her head, snapping her out of trance, before moving her hands swiftly and gracefully over the keys, playing a soft melody.
All Hope can do is stare at the brunette in awe, mesmerized by how natural playing the notes seemed to be for her.
The instrumental fills in the silence between the two, and Hope unconsciously leans in so that her head is resting in the crook of Josie’s neck. She can practically hear the brunette’s rapidly beating heart, but decides not to question it.
“I self-taught myself how to play when I was little.” She begins. “I guess from the start I was always fascinated with the piano.” She chuckles slightly as she recalls her childhood, and Hope can’t help but smile as she remembers a small and quiet young Josie Saltzman. Even back then, she had a huge crush on her.
I guess some things never change.
“But that doesn’t explain why you’re here after curfew.” Hope questions.
“I had an itch to play, and this is the only piano in the school. I have a keyboard in my room, but I didn't want to wake up Lizzie.”
The auburnette nods, and a few moments pass before Josie speaks again. “You never explained why you came down here.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” The latter admits sheepishly. “I thought a glass of milk from the kitchen would help.”
“Oh?” Josie’s tone is teasing. “Well I wouldn’t want to keep you away from your glass of milk.”
Hope can feel herself turn red in embarrassment, before mumbling a faint, “Shut up.”
The brunette giggles, before looking up at the clock and silently cursing to herself. “It’s getting late, and I don’t wanna Lizzie to notice that I’m gone.”
The latter follows her gaze and her eyes widen at seeing that the time is just past one.
Since when has an hour passed?
Disappointedly, Hope nods. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Josie smiles sadly in return, wanting to stay just as badly. “Yep.” She emphasizes the ‘p,’ and begins to head towards the staircase that Hope had come down from. Just before walking up the first step, she turns back around to face Hope, who’s still sitting at the bench. “Goodnight.”
With that, she leaves, and the auburnette suddenly becomes cold without her presence anymore.
--
The next day, Josie walks into the greenhouse at exactly the same time, hoping to see a certain tribrid.
When she walks through the sliding doors and she spots a head of auburn hair, she instantly brightens.
“Hi.” She greets. Unlike yesterday, she makes her presence known, not wanting to seem like a creep.
Hope turns around, the sun once again illuminating the features of her delicate face. The auburnette smiles, before turning back to focus on her painting, and Josie takes that as a cue to start watering the plants nearby.
“Were you able to get that glass of milk?” She teases yet again, referring to their conversation from last night.
Their backs are facing each other as they each do their own tasks, but she imagines the latter rolling her eyes as she speaks.
“I didn’t need it anymore, actually.” She begins. “I was pretty tired after you went up.”
Josie nods. “That’s good, that you got some sleep.” She knew how much of an insomniac Hope was, and she honestly shouldn’t have been surprised last night that the auburnette was out after curfew.
She looks over to the latter, and sees that her canvas is completely blank. “What are you gonna paint?” The brunette questions.
“Another landscape.” Hope pulls away from the easel, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she observes the blank canvas. “I think I’ll paint a sunset in this one.”
She begins to pick out different paint shades of yellow, orange, and red, squirting generous amounts of each onto her palette.
Josie stops what she’s doing to just stare at the auburnette at work, her eyebrows furrowed again as she makes the first stroke of her paintbrush, and continues on from there.
When Hope looks up once feeling a gaze on her, Josie looks away, pretending to water a plant nearby as she starts humming a small tune, the ghost of a smile on her lips.
Later that day, Hope and Josie meet once again at midnight, the two of them sitting on the bench in front of the grand piano while Josie plays until they’re both exhausted.
--
A few days have passed, and it’s become a silent knowledge between the two of their secret meetup spots. Josie finds Hope painting in the greenhouse at exactly noon, while Hope finds Josie playing in the great hall at exactly midnight.
But today’s different.
Earlier, in the week, Josie had mentioned once again to Hope about how beautiful the sunset looked from the greenhouse, and she remembers the memory clearly.
“You should come see it with me.” The brunette blurts out all of a sudden, stopping the melody she was playing. She stills, staying frozen for a few moments, her heart racing.
“Yeah?” Hope lifts her head up from where it was resting on her shoulder, staring at her with her clear blue eyes, a soft smile on her face.
“Yeah.”
Now, Hope sat nervously on a red picnic blanket that she had laid out on the floor of the greenhouse, waiting for Josie.
The sun was beginning to set, and the brunette was nowhere in sight. She tries to relax herself by taking a deep breath, closing her eyes. She can faintly hear the sound of the glass doors sliding open, before a pair of arms wrap around her waist and she’s engulfed in a hug from behind.
“Sorry I’m late.” Josie whispers apologetically into Hope’s ear. She pulls away and sits down next to the tribrid.
“It’s okay.” She says, relieved that the brunette was now here. “You’re just in time.”
When the two of them look up, the sky has now become more of a yellow-orange color, which Hope can see slowly fading into shades of red.
Josie’s seen the sky like this on multiple occasions, but it still captivates her every single time. Her mouth parts in awe as she stares ahead of her through the glass walls.
Hope tries her best to focus on the sky, but no matter what color it changes to, nothing can compare to how beautiful Josie looks right now. Her face is illuminated with the colors of the sunset, hues of deep yellows and bright reds reflecting directly on her face.
She looks ethereal.
She looks golden.
Hope stares at Josie for as long as possible, taking in the sight to engrave into her memory forever. The brunette doesn’t look away from the sky until it has almost completely set, the darkness of the night beginning to overcome.
When she looks over to Hope, who’s still staring at her, she grins widely. “Did you see how pretty the view was.”
“The view was certainly pretty.” Hope hums in agreement. “But the sky wasn’t my view.”
Josie tilts her head in confusion. “I don’t understand, then what was it?”
She leans in, staring directly into the brunette’s warm brown eyes. “You.”
A warm blush rises on Josie’s cheeks, but the intensity of Hope’s eyes prevent her from looking away. The auburnette slowly leans in even closer, allowing Josie plenty of time to pull away, which she doesn’t.
Eventually their lips meet, soft and gentle. Their mouths mold perfectly against one another, and Hope can’t help but let out a sigh of content. The taste of Josie’s lips is addicting, a mixture of both citrus and peppermint. When they pull back, the both of them are breathless, despite the kiss being rather short.
Their foreheads are still touching as Hope stares deeply into Josie, her eyes conveying nothing but love and affection.
Time stops, and for a second Hope feels like she and Josie are the only ones in the world.