Hello everyone ! After I got such an enthusiastic responses with "In The Eyes of His Beloved", it decided it was time for me to offer you something longer, deeper about the one and only Damon Salvatore.
This idea came to me because I was thinking about that episode in Season One when Damon reads Stefan diary and makes fun of his brother. Then I remembered a scene when he was surrounded by sorority girls he had compelled. I also wanted to make Jenna the main female character (but NO romance!) because we don't see enough of her and I think it's unfair that she should not know about vampires.
Anyway, this is set right after 2x05 " Memory Lane", after the fake breakup. Please don't be too harsh on me for grammar and stuff like that, I am no native speaker. I chose to name my "chapters" after actual episodes of the show, so this one is 1x04.
Review, people !
- M. -
Family Ties
Stefan Salvatore was sick and tired of always being worried about his brother's whereabouts. Even since he had got back to Mystic Falls, Damon had only been a cause of trouble. He was stubborn and impulsive. He had given another evidence of that when he attacked Mason Lockwood. Like they didn't have enough problems already. His days were long and painful enough without him having to pay attention to Damon's actions. But when he heard his brother's light steps in the stairs, Stefan couldn't help calling out for him.
"Aren't you ever going to change, Damon?"
"When I'm so close to perfection? You're kidding."
"Of course this is all a game to you. Do you have any idea of what you've just done?"
"Well, I didn't actually do anything, Stefan. The wolf is still running around. I need a drink. Or a dozen!"
Damon deliberately ignored his brother's exasperated face and headed to the bar. He pretended to think before he grabbed a bottle of tequila. There was nothing like the soft burning of alcohol down his throat to raise his spirits. He willingly drew out ten little glasses and filled them all. Still silently, he went to the kitchen to cut ten zests of leman and came back whistling. He raised an eyebrow in Stefan's direction as an invitation. As he thought it was one way like another to make Damon take down the defenses he worked so hard to raise between his and the rest of the world, Stefan joined him.
For a long while, they sat there, getting the measure of each other. Then, in sync, they swallowed the ten shots in vampire speed. As Damon was done with his, he took one from Stefan and burst out laughing when he saw his brother's crestfallen face.
"Logical consequence of your stupid abstinence, brother!"
"You're cheating, Damon. It's not even funny to play with you!"
"Oh, don't pout, Stef."
Damon prepared another round in the blink of an eye. He gave the "ready, set, go" and gulped down four glasses without blinking. A millisecond later, when he should have drunk the fifth, he folded his arms across his chest and smirked his best smirk at Stefan. His brother smiled, took the offense and drank the sixth glass.
"Fine. Now that we have shared such an intense brotherly moment, I am going to…"
" Are you…running away, Damon?"
"Excuse me?"
"We are level and you are running away! Typical, brother."
Damon made a face. Stefan wasn't one to drink shots of tequila just for fun. So he wanted something. And obviously he wanted to talk. Again and again. People around him had this annoying tendency to babble about everything. He was more of an action man himself. And his instinct told him to avoid his brother and his welcoming manners. But he sat back and let out a bottle of bourbon, the one he only pulled out for special occasions.
"Oh, you're too good to me, brother. This is excellent whiskey," Stefan said knowingly.
"I am the one who taught you how to drink, don't give me that superior look.
"I thought I was gonna die the first time I drank alcohol."
"No, I thought I was gonna die. Of laughter, no need to mention."
"I still don't understand why you got me drinking when I was only 13."
The atmosphere seemed to chill out a bit but Damon saw this as an opportunity to tease his brother. Until then, he had never found a better cure for being upset than upsetting someone else. So he put up his emotional walls and his face was expressionless when he muttered "I have always been irresponsible, haven't I, Stefan?" His brother started murmuring an apology, Damon burst out laughing again. "That's just so easy!" Then he went back to being serious.
"Let's be serious for a minute, ok? What's your angle, Stefan?"
"I'm having a nice time with you, brother"
"Stop finishing your sentences with 'brother', it's getting me uncomfortable. What is it that you want, uh? Alcohol, football and secrets sharing to nurse your broken heart, is it?
Stefan didn't react. What broken heart? Then, he remembered. Damon was sitting at the bar when he had faked that fight with Elena. He wondered whether he's better confess to Damon and immediately mentally hit himself for contemplating it. If Damon knew, he would enjoy threatening them. Perpetually. Yes, he could picture Damon taking advantage of the situation to get closer to Elena, who of course wouldn't be able to turn him down without giving away their little secret. Confessing to Damon was absolutely out of the question. Bright side of it, a bad break up would help Stefan to have his way. He focused for a second and frowned with a sight.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, that's a shame, I thought you were in a chatty mood! If only…"
"I mean it, Damon," Stefan's voice was threatening.
"Of course you do. Do you want me to get your diary?"
Damon made a face at this brother and started pacing around their living-room. He looked around him carefully as if he were thinking hard. Then, he started mumbling. After a few minutes of this act, he seemed happy with himself and turned to Stefan. He gestured so as to say "Open the quotation marks" and frowned to mimic his brother. Finally, he changed his voice and chanted:
" 'Dear diary,
My day was horrible. Katherine showed up at the boarding house so I had to give up on Jenna's barbecue. I missed Elena so much! I'm going to miss her even more now, we just broke up. Diary, my soul is so crushed that I wish I could die. Shakespeare would have understood me but I'm stuck with Damon instead. He is so insensitive! He doesn't even react when I try to play nice with him. I'm such a bad actor, I know that, but he could make a move! I will have my way with him, one day.
Stefan.
PS: I am proud to tell you that I've spent 29000 days without drinking a single drop of human blood. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to pick up my coin at the Anonymous Vegetarian Vampires. I will pick it up tomorrow.' "
Very pleased with his performance, Damon took a bow and waited for a reaction. Stefan gave him a cynical smile but he had an idea.
"Contrary to you, I don't see the point in writing my emotions in some dusty book that nobody will ever read."
"I really think you should journal, Damon."
"Why could I possibly write?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe your feelings for Katherine. Or…better, your feelings for Elena."
"Why do you always have to ruin it, little brother?"
Before he had time to blink, Damon had left the room so fast that Stefan hadn't even seen him. No, he really had no time to worry about his brother's whereabouts. But someone had to, before Damon got more hurt.
