#stexi

the day has finally come! the final poll of the tvdu ship bracket!

I dislike drake, but I couldn't help myself.

I love Lexi. She's one of my favorite characters and she absolutely deserved better.

Requested by @suvarnarekha (icons belong to @redbedroom00, @comeontaylorspeaknow)

I definitely think there are, but in different ways, if that makes sense? You're gonna have to bare with me while I ramble a bit to make sense of what I'm trying to say myself as well, because it's been a little while since I've thought about these guys.

So, we know that Lexi and Stefan's main dynamic is long-time "platonic" best friends who became friends because Lexi was determined to help Stefan in his worst moments. She gave him a reason to want to hope for a better life simply because she was in his life (and a bit because she tortured him but we're not gonna talk about that lmao). She was always there in his time of need, whether he wanted her there or not.

Now, Damon and Enzo are also long-time "platonic" best friends who met in Damon's worst moments (Enzo's too, arguably). They both gave each other a reason to want to be hopeful and keep on living no matter how bad things got simply because they had each other in their lives, especially Enzo for Damon. Damon wanted to just give in to a life of torture, but Enzo gave him friendship and a reason to hold on to his humanity, to keep feeling despite it all.

Just like Lexi gave Stefan a reason to hold on to his humanity.

There's something to be said as well about the fact that both Lexi and Enzo refused to abandon Stefan and Damon in their times of need. When Stefan switched off his humanity and became a ripper, something that most people would turn away from him for because it was too horrific, she stuck by him (even in her own death) and did everything she could to help him, even if it meant hurting Stefan. When Damon became a ripper and everyone else in his life had essentially turned on him (for other reasons), Enzo refused to leave his side even though it meant endangering his own life, and even turned other people into vampires so that Damon could continue to feed. Different methods of "helping" but the general motivation behind it stays the same. Lexi and Enzo wanted to help Stefan and Damon because they cared deeply for them and knew they had no one else. (And let's not forget that Damon, who had learned that loyalty lead to suffering in his case, was determined to help Enzo get his humanity back in the same way that Lexi was with Stefan, partially because he blamed himself for him turning it off in the first place, but also because he cared deeply about him.)